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RENAISSANT 
LATIN AMERICA 

AN OUTLINE AND INTERPRE- 
TATION OF THE CONGRESS ON 
CHRISTIAN WORK IN LATIN 
AMERICA, HELD AT PANAMA, 
FEBRUARY 10-19, 1916 



By 
HARLAN P. BEACH, D.D., F.R.G.S. 

Professor of the Theory and Practice of Missions, Yale University 



NEW YORK 

MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT 

OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA 

1916 



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Copyright, 1916, by the 

Missionary Education Movement of thi 

United States and Canada 



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OCT 25 1916 
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FOREWORD 

In preparing this condensed account of an epoch- 
marking conference, the author has been embarrassed 
by space limitations which have necessitated the omis- 
sion of much material quite as important as some that 
has been included. His aim has been to select that 
which is most typical of the Panama Congress and to 
omit duplications, so far as the completeness of separate 
chapters would allow. Repetitions still remain for the 
reason that a number of the Commissions needed to 
include material which had been used in a different 
relation in other reports; and to omit these duplicated 
portions would mar the completeness of a given Com- 
mission's work. 

The author wishes it to be distinctly understood that 
this volume has been written with a constant desire to 
reproduce truly the ideas given expression at the Con- 
gress and not to emphasize his own judgments on many 
of the problems discussed. To that end, and with the 
concurrence of its editorial committee, he has used 
freely, and without acknowledging his obligations 
formally, the exact words of the reports and of the 
platform addresses. He has not inserted quotation 
marks always when the ordinary usage would require 
them. This is due to the exigencies of his desire to 
give the precise thought of a writer or speaker, and 



Iv FOREWORD 

at the same time to economize space ; so that quotation, 
paraphrase and condensation may occur in a single sen- 
tence, making the marks of quotation, if used, an 
enigma and a blemish. This editorial license will be 
criticised most by those speakers whose more formal 
addresses are summarized and extracted from in Chap- 
ter X. The author hopes that he has not sinned in the 
manner described by Dr. McCosh in his "Divine 
Government," where he remarks, "A garbled quota- 
tion may be the most effective perversion of an 
author's meaning." If he has transgressed seriously 
in this matter, forgiveness is asked publicly for scores 
of offenses that may be noted not only in that chap- 
ter, but more especially in the extremely concise re- 
productions of ideas expressed in platform discus- 
sions. 

Despite the brevity and omissions of this volume, 
it will have failed utterly of its purpose, if it has not 
brought to the reader some impression of the profound 
importance of a congress which should mean more 
for the higher life of Latin America and for the 
awakening of Christian responsibility for aiding its 
leaders in national uplift than any other single factor 
in its social, mental and spiritual regeneration. Hap- 
pily, the full significance of the Congress may be more 
fully appreciated from the three-volume report, con- 
taining the investigations of its eight Commissions, 
as well as a careful report of its platform discussions 
and addresses. 

July 15, 1916. H. P. B. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

Foreword iii 

I The Story of the Congress. i 

II Rediscovering Latin America 25 

III Interpretation, Message, Method 55 

IV Latin Americans and Education. 81 

V Leaves for the Healing of Nations 109 

VI The Upbuilding of Womanhood 123 

VII The Latin Evangelical Churches 139 

VIII The Home Fulcrum 165 

IX Unity's Fraternal Program 187 

X Congressional Addresses 207 

XI Aftermath and Estimates 229 

Index 251 



/ 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

The Panama Congress in Session Frontispiece 

The Business Committee 26 

Delegates at Pedro Miguel Locks 26 

Street Preaching 58 ^ 

Industrial Mission 58 v 

Woman Colporteur, Chile 90 \ 

Yucatan-Indian Evangelist, Mexico 90 

Sunday School, Brazil 122 

Children Who Need a Sunday School, Mexico 122 - 

Continuation Committee 154 

Sea Wall Church, Panama 154 

Some Latin-American Delegates at Panama , 186 

Girls' Dormitory, Christo School, Cuba 218 

Arrival of the Physician at the Dispensary, Porto Rico 218 



THE STORY OF THE CONGRESS 

In the oldest city founded upon the American main- 
land by Europeans, at the southern terminus of the 
Panama Canal, was held from February tenth to the 
nineteenth, 191 6, a congress unparalleled in the New 
World's history of missions. Some of the reasons mak- 
ing it so noteworthy were mentioned in Dr. Mott's 
response to the address of welcome extended to the 
Congress by Sefior E. Lefevre, Minister of Foreign 
Affairs of the Republic of Panama. "We have dele- 
gates," said he, "from virtually every one of the re- 
publics of North and South America. We likewise 
have representatives from Europe and the distant 
parts of the world. I fancy that not in the history of 
the Western Hemisphere has there been assembled a 
gathering so representative of the leaders and the forces 
of righteousness of this great sphere of the world's 
activity. There have been notable gatherings rep- 
resenting the political ideals and ambitions and hopes 
of the Western Hemisphere. There have been most 
successful gatherings to promote commercial relations 
between these nations. There have been scientific con- 
gresses — notably the one recently held in Washington 
— that have done much to cement the bonds between 



2 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

these peoples and to prepare for a better day. But 
not before this time have we had such a representative 
company of Christian workers, men and women of wide 
vision, who have met together for this altruistic pur- 
pose in the realization of great hopes." Dr. Mott 
might have added that it was to Panama, also, that in 
June, 1826, representatives of Colombia, Guatemala, 
Mexico, Peru and the United States had been invited 
"to consult together and, if deemed practicable, to 
form a league to resist Spain, or any other power that 
might attempt to interfere in America, and to consider 
the expediency of freeing Cuba and Porto Rico from 
Spanish rule." It was thus a city of early importance 
in the mediating history of the New World, and it was 
now once more to become so. 

In deciding upon the meeting place for this Con- 
gress four possibilities were seriously considered. A 
central city in the United States was ruled out, since 
this was a gathering for Latin America and not for 
its northern neighbor, for missionaries from all the 
sending countries and not for those from the United 
States solely. Rio de Janeiro had its strong claims, — 
the capital of Latin America's United States and allur- 
ing in its tropical loveliness as it skirts an almost peer- 
less harbor under the shadow of Sugar Loaf and the 
Sleeping Giant. But its hot, humid, debilitating cli- 
mate and the fact that Brazil is Portuguese while the 
remainder of Latin America is Spanish were objec- 
tions against that city. Even more attractive was 
Buenos Aires, South America's metropolis, surpassed 



THE STORY OF THE CONGRESS 3 

in population by only three cities of the Western 
Hemisphere, the Greater New York, Chicago and Phil- 
adelphia, and vastly more than "a plaster imitation of 
Paris," as is proved by its substantial public buildings, 
great business houses, spacious docks serving the ves- 
sels of a thousand ports and a record for cleanliness 
and sanitation making it one of the healthiest capitals 
in the world. Yet its remoteness from the majority who 
would naturally attend such a gathering was sufficient 
to disqualify it for a Christian Congress. 

Panama remained and was finally chosen as the 
meeting place of the first important evangelical con- 
ference to be held in Latin America. And it was highly 
appropriate that it should be thus honored. As the 
Panama News Letter reminded the delegates, one can- 
not forget that the records and ruins of old Panama 
show that it was the seat of a Roman Catholic arch- 
bishop before St. Augustine — the oldest permanent 
town in the United States — w r as founded; and that it 
was here that money was raised to equip the expedi- 
tion which first carried the cross of Christ to South 
America and brought back for wondering Europe the 
news of the great Inca Empire and its unique people. 
Its famous Gold Road over which slaves and mules 
carried the treasure of the Incas was the precursor of 
other trails and of the railway of Forty-Niner fame. 
But the crowning sanitary and civil engineering 
achievement of the world, the Panama Canal and its 
sheltering healthful Zone, were both an attraction and 
a strong argument. That silver band of water uniting 



4 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

two great oceans, fed by never failing streams and 
flushed by tropical rains, receives into its hospitable 
embrace the merchantmen and navies of the world. 
Just as the Canal binds together and enriches the 
nations, so this Congress had in it the possibilities of 
uniting and blessing the Latin-American republics. 
Meeting near its waters was to take courage and to 
plan seemingly impossible things, to shrink from no 
expenditure of money and life and to make use of the 
wisdom and inexhaustible resources of the Heavenly 
Kingdom. 

It was above the city, on the slopes of beautiful 
Ancon, that the Congress convened. The government's 
Hotel Tivoli was the trysting place where lovers of 
God and of men daily and nightly met and lived to- 
gether. A majority of the leaders were lodged at the 
hotel; so that some of the finest fruits of this Latin- 
American paradise were the firm friendships and com- 
mon points of sympathy and view resulting from such 
close intimacy. Tennis before breakfast, when the 
dewdrops sparkled on every blade of grass and on each 
glossy banana frond and when the sun was rising out 
of the Pacific to rule the tropical day, or early tramps 
to the dense jungle, impenetrable by anything larger 
than a rat except an elephant, and again the walks to- 
gether just before dinner, were restful preparatives 
and interludes in a never-to-be-forgotten experience. 
Nor was there anything insular or exclusive about 
these intimacies. Bishops from North America locked 
arms with Latin laymen, as they strolled about or sat 



THE STORY OF THE CONGRESS 5 

together in the breeze-swept ballroom, where the ses- 
sions of the Congress were held. While it was only 
the more demonstrative Latins who embraced each 
other, they and the staid, cold New Englanders were 
as one in their familiar intercourse between sessions. 
In other words, had there never been anything more 
than these ten days of Christian fellowship, with no 
suggestion of formal conference, the gathering would 
have justified fully its assembling. Dubious or ag- 
gressive Romanist onlookers must have felt inwardly 
impelled to testify of this group of leaders, "Behold 
how they love one another!" And so said the rank 
and file of the Panamanians. 

As the place chosen for the Congress was strategic, 
so there was a providential timeliness in its convening 
just at this juncture in history. As was shown so 
effectively by Dr. Mott, the completion of the Canal 
has turned the thought of serious people to the 
changed relationships involved. It has created a new 
water map of the world, with the Canal Zone as 
its center, whence radiate new ocean routes with their 
necessitated racial adjustments, due to international 
rivalries. It has compelled the United States in par- 
ticular to review its Monroe Doctrine, both in its polit- 
ical and in its religious aspects and obligations. The 
long drawn out political disturbances in Mexico have 
linked the Northern Republic by close ties with the 
"A. B. C. countries" of South America, as they strive 
together to bring to Mexicans the elements of a stable 
peace. Those present at a special session of members 



6 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

of the Christian Congress called to consider mission- 
ary problems arising from the revolution in that re- 
public could hardly fail to note the parallel between 
the political helpfulness of "A. B. C." diplomacy as re- 
lated to Mexico and the hoped-for religious advance- 
ment arising from that evening spent in common in- 
terdenominational planning for a more brotherly and 
cooperative program for that perturbed and divided 
country. Such a deputation as was sent to Latin 
America in 19 14 by the Carnegie Endowment for In- 
ternational Peace, resulting in the discovery of strong 
feelings of friendship and of ways in which the north- 
ern and southern continents could be helpful, both in- 
tellectually and culturally, to each other, suggests the 
opportuneness of a similar religious rapprochement 
through this conference. The Pan American Scien- 
tific Congress, held only a few weeks before, was 
another suggestion of the immediate desirability 
of bringing the Christian forces together for 
a scientific discussion of missionary efficiency and 
dynamics. It was also deemed to be the psychological 
moment in which to bring to bear upon the Latin- 
American missionary propaganda certain results, in- 
digenous and imported, arising from such movements 
and object-lessons as the educational work of the 
Piedras Negras Institute, the broad social and re- 
ligious program of the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation and the remarkable achievements of Sefior 
Alvaro Reis' self-supporting church in Rio de Janeiro, 
perhaps the strongest evangelical congregation in Latin 



THE STORY OF THE CONGRESS 7 

America. Indeed, the Congress was permeated with 
the Zeitgeist and tingled with the Geistesdrang of this 
epochal period in the evolution of the missionary- 
enterprise; it was the rich heir of recent advances in 
the science of missions and burned with the ardor 
which the impelling spirit of unity and cooperation 
is imparting in these latter days. And finally the 
shadow and the reality of the awful European war 
entered as a factor into this timeliness. Thus a series 
of important conferences in the Levant, to be held 
under the leadership of Dr. John R. Mott, representing 
the Edinburgh Conference Continuation Committee, 
had to be given up, making it possible at this critical 
period to render the Panama Congress more effective 
than it otherwise might have been. Post-bellum op- 
portunities will doubtless be unique, and now is the 
time in which the Church and individual Christians 
should consider and prepare for them. If Europe's 
burdens, because of the costly and exhausting warfare, 
will then be too heavy to admit of aiding Latin Amer- 
ica, Latins and North Americans should unite their 
forces and increase their efforts to make good the 
loss. 

How did this Latin-American Congress on Christian 
Work, thus strategically convened and timed, come to 
be? Dr. Robert E. Speer, who later was made its 
Chairman, told the story in an address at the Foreign 
Missions Conference of the United States and Canada 
at Garden City, L. L, in January, 1916. A few rep- 
resentatives of the evangelical Churches of Latin 



8 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

America and missionaries from its republics met to- 
gether in Princes Street, Edinburgh, during the ses- 
sions of the World Missionary Conference of June, 
19 10. It had seemed best to limit the deliberations 
and representation of that Conference to missions in 
non-Christian lands; hence a depth and earnestness of 
feeling characterized that group of men, who felt that 
the service commanding their supreme allegiance was 
in danger of being passed by. Four matters were most 
upon their mind. They were much concerned over the 
apparent indifference of great masses of their fel- 
lows to what they themselves deemed to be the funda- 
mental spiritual rights of the Latin- American nations 
and were anxious that these claims should be laid upon 
the hearts of the home constituency in a more effec- 
tive way. Secondly, they were deeply impressed with 
[the need of an adequate, popular and helpful litera- 
ture for the Portuguese and Spanish evangelical 
churches. Again, they were convinced that now was 
the time when those parts of those great lands, 
sparsely inhabited but some day to be densely settled, 
now comparatively unoccupied by the Church, should 
be arranged for by such distribution of responsibility 
among the Churches as would ensure adequate provis- 
ion and care. And, lastly, they were convinced that 
these great needs could be met only as some gather- 
ing might be held which would do for Latin-American 
peoples what the Edinburgh Conference was seeking 
to do for all the mission work among non-Christian 
nations. 



THE STORY OF THE CONGRESS 9 

The first step toward the realization of their desires 
was taken in March, 19 13, when a conference was held 
in New York, attended by representatives of mission- 
ary organizations of Canada and the United States 
having work in Latin America. At the expiration of 
two days spent in discussing the needs of those fields 
with missionaries who chanced to be home on fur- 
lough, a committee was appointed to promote the in- 
terests of missions in Latin-American lands. A year 
later the small committee of five called a meeting at 
Garden City, for additional consultation, especially 
with reference to the situation in Mexico, due to the 
prolonged insurrection there. The meeting instructed 
the committee to increase its number and to add repre- 
sentatives of each agency doing work in Latin America, 
resulting in a committee of eighteen. When this action 
became known in the Latin-American countries, cor- 
respondence and personal interviews of missionaries 
recalled the hopes entertained at Edinburgh. The result 
was the initiation of the plan for the Panama Congress. 
A report was made at the Foreign Missions Conference 
at Garden City in January, 191 5, when each Society 
having work in Latin-American lands was separately 
approached. As these organizations responded favor- 
ably and in different ways expressed their desire to 
send delegates, the Congress was definitely decided 
upon. 

While this decision was reached with practical una- 
nimity by the organizations most concerned, different 
opinions as to its advisability were expressed by a 



io RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

few. Opposition arose in three main sections of the 
Church. A few hyper-evangelicals objected to the 
Congress on the ground that it was a step toward 
compromise with Rome, since any such gathering 
would probably echo the prevalent demand for sym- 
pathy and possible cooperation with the Roman 
Church in measures upon which all could agree, being 
wholly apart from doctrine and objectionable practice. 
This, they feared, would set in motion a Rome-ward 
movement. At the opposite pole of Protestant Chris- 
tianity were a few advocates of union among all 
branches of the Christian Church, who felt that such 
a gathering would irritate the Romanists so greatly 
that later union with them of any sort would be im- 
possible, or at least would be made more difficult. As 
their sacramentarian views were more nearly those of 
Rome than of most Churches having missionaries in 
Latin America, they conscientiously opposed the Con- 
gress, especially if held in the capital of a republic 
dominantly Roman Catholic. Naturally the strongest 
opposition came from the Roman Bishop of Panama, 
whose views were set forth in official pronounce- 
ments to his constituency, in which he bade them be- 
ware of false prophets that were coming among them 
"clad in sheep furs," but who were really "wolves in 
their interior," and in which he prohibited their attend- 
ing the meetings under penalty of mortal sin. While 
a few local opponents of Protestantism were similarly 
stirred and issued more or less bitter fulminations 
against the Congress, it was interesting to see what local 



THE STORY OF THE CONGRESS u 

Catholic papers had to say against this form of attack. 
And Protestant opposition likewise proved to be no 
obstacle to the effectiveness of the Congress. Thus 
five bishops of the Church which had questioned the 
advisability of its assembling were present and were 
most helpful participants in its deliberations. 

With the exception of the Edinburgh World Mis- 
sionary Conference, it is probable that no similar 
gathering had been so laboriously prepared for as was 
the Congress at Panama. Carefully chosen commis- 
sions had been giving months to the painstaking in- 
vestigation of eight vital phases of missions in Latin 
America. A goodly proportion of the leading men 
and women working in these special departments of 
missionary effort freely imparted the best from their 
experience to the commissions. Each of these 
separately discussed the material thus gathered, and 
later the eight commissions came together for a joint 
review of the results reached. The revised reports 
were then printed in proof and sent to the fields for 
final criticism there. After they had been thus al- 
tered, each commission prepared for the private use of 
delegates to the Congress its final report. As most of 
them were journeying in groups to Panama, they met 
day by day to discuss still further certain outstanding 
issues of the various reports. It may be said that when 
the commissions reported on the Congress platform, 
the material presented was as nearly final in its form 
as could be hoped for. In this respect, Panama out- 
ranked Edinburgh, and consequently there was less 



12 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

left to be criticised than at any similar gathering in 
any country. The secretary of the Congress, the Rev. 
S. G. Inman, is well within the facts when he asserts 
that these "reports constitute probably the most ex- 
haustive study of the social, educational and spiritual 
conditions of Latin America ever made." 

The personnel of the Latin-American Congress on 
Christian Work was both notable and in some respects 
unique. The World Conference of 19 10 had attracted 
to the Scotch Athens experts on missions and mission 
workers from all parts of the world, though lands 
under the dominating influence of forms of Chris- 
tianity other than Protestant could not be represented 
officially from their missionary ranks. All gradations 
of racial development, all forms of religious belief, 
all stages of missionary experimentation and achieve- 
ment, all varieties of missions theory, had a hearing 
on the Edinburgh platform. The problems discussed 
differed so greatly in the environments represented, 
that both in the printed reports and on the plat- 
form variations in the common task rather than 
likenesses were noticeable. Cosmopolitanism was 
manifest everywhere, and so Conference members came 
together in groups and by racial affiliations rather 
than through a bond of identical tasks and similar ex- 
periences. At Edinburgh, moreover, Occidentals, 
almost all of whom were missionaries, were in the 
overwhelming majority. It is true that a few able 
natives were present from the great mission fields, but 
with rare exceptions these delegates were silent specta- 



THE STORY OF THE CONGRESS 13 

tors of a movement in which they seemed to have 
little part. The joint result of so ecumenical a gather- 
ing was inevitably somewhat confusing; and its con- 
tribution to the science of Missions was that of a vast 
preliminary collection and coordination of data rather 
than a specific study of distinct problems, isolated from 
related facts. 

Panama's assembly was in marked contrast to Edin- 
burgh's. Missionary experts were fewer, but ex- 
perienced missionaries were more numerous, counted 
by percentages, and more prominent as speakers. In- 
stead of being representatives of a score of races, at 
Panama the Latins were the only ones present besides 
the men and women who had identified themselves 
with the Latin- American world, if two Indian boy 
participants, not delegates, are excepted. The twenty 
republics whence the delegates came are singularly 
homogeneous, and their problems are naturally similar. 
While portions of Latin America are primitive or 
backward, Panama as a whole dealt with peoples hav- 
ing a civilization akin to that of southwestern Europe. 
Missionary methods are almost identical throughout 
the Latin republics, and hence there was a common 
ground to be traversed with the hope of improvement 
all along the line, rather than with the necessity of 
reconciling opposed methods and theories. Instead 
of the ten days' monotony of addresses in English by 
missionaries almost solely, at Panama three languages 
were used at will. Here one from North America 
learned for the first time what oratorical possibilities 



14 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

lay in the Iberian tongues and in the Latin mind. If 
the missionaries supplied the Anglo-Saxon poise and 
richer spiritual experience, their Latin brothers and 
sisters furnished the high enthusiasm and the cheering 
warmth that made the auditor listen with rapt atten- 
tion, even when the address was in a tongue which he 
did not understand. Here was a simple, single set of 
problems and a homogeneous company of workers to 
discuss them. Even on the religious side, they had not 
to deal with faiths as divergent as Buddhism, Moham- 
medanism and Confucianism, but mainly with phases 
of the same germinal Christianity, varying with its 
different environment and racial development. Here 
was the possibility of a scientific determination of cer- 
tain forms of missionary theory and method, which 
within three months began to find their formulation 
in the regional conferences following upon the Con- 
gress at Panama. 

In a word, if the two largest missionary conferences 
in recent years are compared, Edinburgh was general, 
cosmopolitan, unusually varied in viewpoint and exten- 
sive in scope, while Panama was specialized, homogene- 
ous, united and uniform in its objectives and intensive 
in its investigations and discussions, as was natural 
when all the delegates represented a single great divi- 
sion of the world. While the attendance was much 
smaller at Panama, the total number being 481, of 
whom 304 were delegates and official visitors from 
twenty-one different nations, this very fact enabled 
those present to become more closely acquainted and 



THE STORY OF THE CONGRESS 15 

to feel more exhilaratingly the pulsations of real unity 
than was possible in the greater gathering at Edin- 
burgh. The statistics of the Congress may suggest 
the preponderance of outside elements, since Latin- 
American representatives number 145 as against 159 
delegates and official visitors from Canada, the United 
States, Great Britain, Spain and Italy; yet that slight 
disparity in numbers does not indicate that there was a 
corresponding difference in viewpoint, as delegates 
from outside Latin America were all deeply sympa- 
thetic with the objectives and desires of the Latin- 
American group. 

A nearer view of the Congress as it convened at 
Panama will supply the needed setting for the fuller 
appreciation of its important deliberations. The 
United States Government's Hotel Tivoli, which is ap- 
proached through a stately avenue of graceful palm 
trees, lies on the verdant slopes of Ancon open to the 
cooling breezes from the Pacific, — an item of great 
importance in the tropics, where clothes reduce them- 
selves to the lowest terms of Palm Beach suits and 
Panama hats or pith helmets for the men and the 
filmiest, coolest fabrics for the women delegates. The 
spacious lower floor is devoted mainly to the great 
dining-room and the equally generous ballroom. The 
mountain and seaward sides of each of these were open 
to all the winds of heaven, unless a chilly morning or 
evening called for the closing of glass doors. At all 
times the beauty-loving eye could turn eastward to the 
placid Pacific, or upward in the opposite direction to 



16 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

the green hillside, covered with tropical growths, ex- 
cept where punctuated with beautiful residences or 
government buildings. 

From the high ceilings of the place of meeting pend- 
ent flags of all the American republics lazily responded 
to the intermittent breezes, as did the great palm 
fronds that adorned the pillars. Three sides of the 
hall were devoted to exhibits of books, periodicals 
and maps of the various regions of Latin America, the 
last having been prepared under the direction of Mr. 
S. W. Boggs for the inspection and criticism of the 
delegates. Another missionary map of South Amer- 
ica, measuring nine by thirteen feet, also prepared by 
him, was the background of the platform. A separate 
alcove of the room was devoted to the striking collec- 
tion of the American Bible Society's Spanish and 
Portuguese publications. 

It was eminently fitting that a Latin American, Pro- 
fessor Eduardo Monteverde of the University of 
Uruguay, who is also working in connection with the 
Young Men's Christian Association of Montevideo, 
should have been elected president of the Congress. 
His unfailing courtesy, kindly smile, forceful speech, 
scholarly achievements and devoted Christian life made 
him a typical representative of the best in the Latin- 
American Evangelical Church. 

Dr. Robert E. Speer, senior secretary of the Board 
of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in 
the United States of America, was chairman of the 
day sessions devoted to the hearing and discussion of 



THE STORY OF THE CONGRESS 17 

the eight commission reports, a man too well known 
to need any word of introduction to the reader of 
missionary literature. Under his firm yet kindly con- 
duct of these sessions the Congress moved on calmly 
and almost without friction even when the topics dis- 
cussed were such as to awaken deep feeling on opposite 
sides of important questions. The chairman of the 
Business Committee, which was the real heart of the 
organism, was the best known figure in the mission 
world to-day, John R. Mott, LL.D. These old-time 
friends and fellow workers were pillars upon which 
the strong superstructure of the Congress securely 
rested, standing, as they did, for the highest mission- 
ary ideals and themselves dwelling in the manifest 
presence of God. To the members of the Business 
Committee who so unstintingly gave their time be- 
tween sessions to many vital matters affecting the con- 
duct and efficiency of the conference, the success of 
the gathering was largely due. 

The Congress so happily domiciled and officered 
was conducted no less ideally. Preceding the morn- 
ing session, devoted to the report of one of the eight 
commissions and lasting from half past eight until 
eleven, came a period of silent prayer and meditation 
followed by the opening devotional exercises. Each 
commission was allowed half an hour in which to open 
and close its presentation, of which twenty minutes 
were ordinarily given to its introduction and ten min- 
utes to closing at the afternoon session. At eleven 
o'clock the delegates turned from interesting discus- 



18 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

sions to an uplifting half hour of devotion, their 
thought being led by men of devout mind and deep 
religious experience and accentuated by accessory 
praise and intercession. The interval between eleven 
thirty and half past three, when the Congress recon- 
vened, was variously spent, though most of the dele- 
gates made it a time for social intercourse, seeing 
quaint Panama City, only five minutes walk from the 
hotel, or for siestas, suggested not so much by the 
tropical environment as by the strenuous nature of the 
full days. The afternoon session of two hours was 
set apart for a further discussion of the theme of the 
day. No speaker at either of the sessions could become 
prolix or somnolent, for the twofold reason that the 
time limit of seven minutes, when a speaker was cut 
short by an inexorable bell, did not permit him to com- 
plete his unwelcome task, and because he was so 
anxious to make his point that he spoke directly — 
sometimes tumultuously — to his subject without exor- 
dium or peroration. As cards were signed by those 
desiring to speak upon any subject, the Chairman knew 
how many were to be heard; and in some cases the 
number was so great that the limit was cut down to 
five minutes or even less. 

The languages of the Congress were three. Most 
spoke in English, and it was noticeable that of those 
to whom it was not the natal tongue but who used it 
on the platform, the Latin- American women usually 
surpassed the men. When Spanish or Portuguese was 
used, official interpreters — summarizers rather — were 



THE STORY OF THE CONGRESS 19 

provided who followed the speaker with an English 
digest of what had been said, usually half as full as 
the original address. The Rev. Webster E. Browning, 
Ph.D., of Santiago, was the one who thus aided the 
Spanish speakers; and his summaries were notably 
clear and pointed. The Rev. H. C. Tucker, D.D., of 
Rio de Janeiro, similarly served the Portuguese dele- 
gates, and his interpretations were unusually felicitous 
in point of following closely the spirit and oratorical 
forms of his originals. In some cases a speaker would 
give what he had to say in his native tongue and then 
immediately follow it with his own English rendering, 
a conspicuous example being Sefior E. Lefevre, Minis- 
ter of Foreign Affairs of the Panama Republic, whose 
cordial address of welcome on the opening evening 
was thus repeated in faultless English. 

In addition to the regular morning and afternoon 
sessions devoted to the discussion of commission re- 
ports, a more popular gathering was held in the even- 
ings, when themes not connected with the commissions 
were presented by distinguished Latin-American and 
English-speaking ladies and gentlemen. While the 
Congress did not convene on Sunday, on the evening 
of February thirteenth most of the delegates attended 
a session held in the Instituto Nacional where Dr. Mott 
had been invited to address them and the citizens of 
Panama upon his observations and impressions of the 
unparalleled European conflict, — an address that 
throbbed with Christian passion, sympathy and tender- 
ness. On that occasion, which was made a semi-formal 



20 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

reception to members of the Congress, Dr. E. G. Dex- 
ter, rector of the Institute, and Senor G. Andreve, Sec- 
retary of Public Instruction, voiced Panama's welcome 
to the speaker and to the Congress also. Both Sun- 
days were filled with services from one end of the 
Canal Zone to the other at which delegates spoke with 
power and great acceptance. 

While the United States Government and its Canal 
officials did not formally greet the Congress, they 
graciously invited its members to inspect the Canal 
through its most typical and important sections. On 
Tuesday afternoon, the delegates entered into picnic 
mood and boarding the train comported themselves as 
students on holiday. Arriving at Pedro Miguel, they 
detrained and inspected with keen interest the con- 
struction and mechanism of the gigantic locks as the 
vessel which was to carry the party to Gatun Lake 
passed through. The sail thither impressed the dele- 
gates with the unappreciated magnitude of this colossal 
undertaking, especially at Culebra Cut, where busy 
dredges were finishing the work caused by the great 
slide. One of these the following Saturday established 
a world's record for a day's dredging, which was at 
the rate of nearly twenty-five tons of mud and rock 
per minute. To the few who knew Panama in the old 
days, no less wonderful than the engineering triumphs 
of General Goethals was the marvelous transformation 
due to General Gorgas, whereby this miasmatic, mos- 
quito-infested region, where yellow fever conquered 
the French Canal builders, has become a health resort. 



THE STORY OF THE CONGRESS 21 

Though the screened porches of most of the buildings 
suggest winged enemies of man, so relentless is the 
warfare against them that the present writer saw only 
one fly and not a solitary mosquito during the entire 
ten days of his sojourn there, while many delegates 
did not see any. 

Panama, lying below Ancon and only a short dis- 
tance away, was the laboratory to which those members 
of the Congress frequently resorted who had never 
seen a Latin- American town. This somewhat typical 
Spanish city still has its Sunday bull fights, its Sunday 
lottery drawings held in a section of the Bishop's resi- 
dence diagonally opposite the Cathedral, the Cathedral 
itself and the cosmopolitan population which consti- 
tutes its charm and its problem, as in so many Latin- 
American centers. It was less helpful from the labora- 
tory viewpoint in that little work is done by missions 
for any except the negroes, who are of an unusually 
fine type, coming mostly from Jamaica. At the Sea 
Wall Methodist church, however, those labored for 
are Spanish-speaking people, except on Sunday morn- 
ing, when the audience is mixed. The presence at this 
particular center of a large number of young soldiers 
has complicated the task, as is so often the case when 
moral restraints are relaxed in a city where tempta- 
tions to lust and debauchery are present. 

What Panama and the Congress there assembled 
were to be to the delegates and to the Latin-American 
world was foreshadowed by Bishop Oldham at the 
very opening of its sessions. In his uplifting prayer 



22 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

were these petitions : "Many, many hearts have longed 
and hoped and prayed for this hour. They have 
watched and they have waited, and they have scarcely 
known sometimes whether their eyes would see this 
hour. And now the hour has come when, gathered 
from many parts of the world, we are assembled to put 
together our plans, our visions, our hopes, our fears, 
and to ask that out of them all there may come one 
great plan, one great purpose, one great throbbing de- 
sire, beyond anything that we have yet known, to bring 
good to all here assembled. . . . Grant that in 
the midst of everything, placed as we are at such a 
time in the world's history as this, — that here may be 
one beautiful, glorious, luminous spot from which all 
Christendom shall take larger courage and firmer 
hope. . . . May this be a mount of vision, and 
may the Lord God Himself reveal unto us the things 
we are to do and what we are to be." 

And the support and inspiration of those memor- 
able days of counsel and deliberation were found in a 
simple incident, reported from an experience of Dr. 
Speer in the Philippine Islands in 191 5. A Filipino 
school teacher, in an address of welcome, said to the 
Board delegation that he hoped those friends had come 
"to bring some sweet word from our dear Lord." In 
his recital of the incident Dr. Speer added : "I thought 
of all the Christian experience that lay back of that 
phrasing of the desire of this Filipino youth, of all that 
it signified to us, . . . the abiding longing of 
our hearts always and in every place, to hear again, to 



THE STORY OF THE CONGRESS 23 

hear anew, 'some sweet word from our dear Lord/ " 
Once and again, and every hour oftentimes, "some 
sweet word" would fall from lips touched by their 
Lord that whispered peace and comfort and wisdom 
and strength and the assurance of success in that 
bright future of Latin- American missions, when what 
was so prayerfully and devoutly sought out on the 
green slopes of Ancon looking toward the sunrising 
should be believed by the Church and wrought into 
the spiritual and common life of all Latin- American 
lands. 



II 

REDISCOVERING LATIN AMERICA 

As it is proposed to present in this volume each of 
the reports of the eight commissions in a single chap- 
ter, including the discussions connected with its presen- 
tation, — material twenty-fold more extended than the 
chapter itself, — it is obviously impossible to do more 
than select what seems of greatest importance in con- 
nection with each theme and condense even that 
modicum. The reader is referred for details and ad- 
ditional phases of each topic to the three-volume re- 
port of the Congress, containing the full statements 
of the eight commissions as finally edited, with the 
correctives due to the discussions of the Congress in- 
corporated in the text. 

To Commission I on "Survey and Occupation," 
whose Chairman was Mr. E. T. Colton, was entrusted 
the important task of laying before the delegates the 
results of its careful investigation of the varied condi- 
tions bearing directly or indirectly upon the mission- 
ary occupation of Latin-American lands. It was thus 
a preview for the other Commissions. 

As delimited by the Commission, Latin America in- 
cludes all the areas south of the Rio Grande, consist- 
ing of ten republics north and ten south of the Panama 

25 



26 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

Canal Zone, and of colonies of France, Great Britain, 
Holland, Denmark and the Zone itself, administered 
like Porto Rico by the United States. Inhabiting this 
generous territory of 8,459,081 square miles is a 
population of 80,203,902, — largely estimated rather 
than counted. These figures need to be compared with 
more familiar units to be fully appreciated. Thus the 
United States of North America, excluding Alaska, 
could be superimposed upon the United States of 
Brazil with room enough left to accommodate two 
additional New Englands and New Jerseys, plus New 
York and Pennsylvania. New York, New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania and Maryland would not quite fill Ecua- 
dor, that tiny triangle on South America's map. 
Nearly thirteen New Englands could be packed into 
our next-door neighbor, Mexico; while Argentina is 
almost one-third as large as all British territory in 
North America. Compared with populations of other 
mission fields, Latin America's inhabitants equal in 
number the negroes in all of Africa, according to 
recent conservative estimates, or the combined popula- 
tion of the great mission fields of the Japanese Empire, 
— including Korea and Formosa, — the Turkish Empire 
and the Union of South Africa. Anglo-Saxon Amer- 
ica outnumbers by little more than a third Latin Amer- 
ica's populations. 

It was prospective areas and populations, however, 
rather than present figures, that quickened the imagina- 
tion of the Congress. While the boundaries cannot be 
enlarged, areas now useless were spread before the 



REDISCOVERING LATIN AMERICA 27 

delegates as inviting fields of bright promise. Thus 
the forest-covered regions of Central America, Colom- 
bia, Venezuela, the Guianas, parts of Ecuador and 
Peru and equatorial Brazil — at present least desirable 
for immigration — are nevertheless well adapted to 
negroes, Hindus, Indians, and other races acclimated 
to the tropics; so that instead of sixteen millions 
occupying the fringes of these regions, the area and 
habitableness of much more of these sections can be 
extended to accommodate more than sixty millions. 
In regions more adapted to white men, Argentina, 
Uruguay and Southern Brazil, there are a million 
square miles available for settlement, where it is pre- 
dieted that a population of one hundred millions of 
people will be found at the end of the century, with, 
an ultimate capacity of twice as many. Sefior Calderon 
predicts that in the year 2000, Latin America will 
domicile 250,000,000 people. While few would agree 
with the famous French geographer Reclus in his state- 
ment that it will finally support two billions of peo- 
ple, the estimate that it will one day maintain half a 
billion, or almost one-third the world's present 
population, is quite believable. 

To this land of desire, the last great unoccupied 
area of the habitable world except sections of Africa, 
a stream of immigration is already setting, so that in 
191 3 about a million immigrants landed on Latin- 
American shores while nearly half that number re- 
turned home, — forty-five percent, as against forty per- 
cent, returning home from the United States the year 



28 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

before. Most are from European lands, but the num- 
ber of Japanese immigrants is increasing and many 
come from China and India. French, Italian, Spanish 
and Portuguese arrivals do not need to change their 
type of civilization and are speedily absorbed; while 
North Americans, Englishmen and Germans require 
one or two generations of life in Latin America before 
assimilation does its work. During this period of 
absorption and assimilation, it is vastly important that 
a religious atmosphere more helpful than is found 
there at present should be provided. 

The Commission could not omit from its purview 
the vast resources of Latin America, which are the 
bait alluring immigrants, commerce, and capital to 
the Latin hook, and at the same time the substantial 
foundation for the belief that this part of the world 
is one of great prospective importance from the Chris- 
tian viewpoint. 

Despite the fact that much of its area is an im- 
penetrable jungle of coarse grass, rainless regions of 
sandy soil, swamps, miasmatic forests and lofty moun- 
tain tracts, there is incalculable wealth in products of 
forest, ranch, farm and mine. Half the rubber of the 
world comes from tropical America. Argentina alone 
in 1914 possessed 123,612,000 cattle, horses, sheep — 
eighty millions of these, — goats, mules, pigs, etc. Four- 
fifths of the world's coffee supply comes from Brazil, 
and its diamond fields supply more brilliants than any 
part of the world except South Africa. Virgin 
forests of Latin America abound in rosewood and 



REDISCOVERING LATIN AMERICA 29 

other valuable timber, Chile's sterile land supplied in 
19 1 3 nitrates valued at $120,000,000. Cuba, the 
greatest sugar-cane raiser of the world, in 19 14 pro- 
duced 2,575,000 tons of sugar, and its capital city 
supplied other countries with 183,234,330 cigars. 
Four years ago Argentina milled 1,345,568 tons of 
wheat. The supposedly barren wastes of Peru the 
same year yielded 1,740,024 tons of sugar-cane, while 
from its mines were shipped nearly ten million dollars 
worth of copper, — and so on endlessly. Resulting from 
this wealth of productions, international trade has 
grown from two billion dollars to three billions dur- 
ing the last ten years; and the Hon. John Barrett 
predicts that in the five years following the war this 
trade will increase to five billions. To transport this 
costly product twenty-five steamship lines from North 
America and over fifty from Europe ply back and 
forth, with Japan's commercial fleets coming thither 
from the Far East. Here, surely, are the guarantees 
of future increasing populations ; here, also is the cer- 
tainty of increasing, selfish greed which needs the 
altruistic touch of the living Christ, in order to heal 
the inevitable leprous growth of a materialistic civiliza- 
tion. 

A study of Latin Americans already domiciled in 
these republics and the heirs of four centuries of Ibero- 
American environment and influence is the discovery 
of peoples of mingled strength and weakness. That 
early inheritance must always be remembered. "When 
the Spaniards came to the New World," writes Lord 



30 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

Bryce, "they came mainly for the sake of gold. . . . 
Few settlers came from Spain to till the land. The 
first object was to seize all that could be found of the 
precious metals, much to the astonishment of the 
natives, who thought that gold must be to them a 
sort of fetich. The next was to discover mines of 
those metals and make the Indians work them. The 
third was to divide up the more fertile districts into 
large estates, allotting to each adventurer his share of 
labor-natives along with his share of the lands. No 
settlers came out to clear the ground from wood and 
build homes upon it, as did the colonists of New Eng- 
land and those who sought to create a New France 
on the St. Lawrence. No Spaniard thought of tilling 
the land himself. Why should he when he could make 
others till it for him? . . . Accordingly, the in- 
vaders became a ruling caste, living on the labor of 
their Indian serfs, and for a long time they confined 
themselves to the lands upon which the latter were al- 
ready established." And these conquistador es, "brave, 
hardy, romantic and warlike," as Francisco Yanes 
rightly describes them, were equalled by the Paulistas 
of Southern Brazil who as a racial blend of Portuguese 
and Indian marched as bandeirantes, or banner-men, 
on similar errands of Indian conquest and golden 
achievement. Red men proving insufficient in num- 
ber and unequal to the blacks as laborers, Africa was 
robbed to supply the eastern half of the continent with 
slaves. From that early period onward, the white man 
has been dependent largely upon these two racial ele- 



REDISCOVERING LATIN AMERICA 31 

ments, to the detriment of his blood and of his own best 
development. 

And yet we of the Anglo-American race do not 
fairly estimate the Latin American. Quoting again 
from the Assistant Director of the Pan American 
Union, Mr. Yanes: "I may say that a charge fre- 
quently made against us Latin Americans, and in a 
sense true, is that we are a race of dreamers. Perhaps 
it is so. We inherited from our forefathers the love 
of the beautiful and grand, the facility for expression 
and the vivid imagination of our race. From them 
we inherited the sonorous, majestic Spanish, the 
flexible, musical Portuguese, and the French — language 
of art, and a responsive chord to all that thrills, be it 
color, harmony, or mental imagery. We inherited 
their varying moods, their noble traits and their short- 
comings, both of which we have preserved and in cer- 
tain cases improved under the influence of our environ- 
ment,— our majestic mountains, our primeval forests, 
the ever blooming tropical flowers, the birds of sweet- 
est wild songs and wonderful plumage, — under magnif- 
icent skies and the inspiration taken from other poets 
and writers, be they foreign or native, who have gone 
through life like the minstrels of old with a song on 
their lips and an unsatisfied yearning in their hearts." 
This is typical of the best Latin Americans. 

Those early adventurers may have been dominated 
by forces that Professor Shepherd compresses within 
his quotation, "gospel, glory and gold;" yet be it said 
that the first of these was never wanting, no matter 



32 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

how we may evaluate it. And thus it happens that 
the bright lining of that dark cloud was the devotion — 
flaming forth again and again — in such heroic souls as 
animated Jesuit, Franciscan and Dominican curas, 
doctrineros and misioneros — priests, catechists and 
missionary monks — who braved danger of every de- 
scription to aid their degraded charges. How the work 
of the Jesuits impressed itself upon Indians of the 
Paraguayan reductions is a miracle of missions, albeit 
wrought to the destruction of all native initiative and 
of true manliness. The author last quoted holds that 
the Spanish clergy had three motives in dealing with 
the Indians, "destruction, construction and instruc- 
tion.'' Of these destruction was sometimes mere icono- 
clastic zeal which did not seem to conflict with the 
retention of much that was heathenish, kept "because 
of their ignorance and weak minds.'' Too often in 
the early years conversions, forbidden to be through 
force, were the result of entradas and conquistas de 
almas, which entries and conquests of souls were made 
by missionaries accompanied by soldiers who raided 
villages and carried off children and youths to be 
taught Spanish and instructed in the Catholic faith. 
Yet over against multitudes of these shepherds may 
be placed one such saint as Las Casas, the "Apostle to 
the Indies" — as "seamy" a saint as some of St. Paul's 
Corinthian charges, some historians think, yet one 
whose influence contributed in large measure to the 
enactment of humane legislation that became a feature 
of later Spanish policy. These are sample leaves from 



REDISCOVERING LATIN AMERICA 33 

the history of the early centuries, turned that the 
reader may see the origin of many things in Latin- 
American life to-day that he may fail to understand 
otherwise. 

Recalling such historical incidents, many Anglo- 
Americans are surprised to find what unusual men 
and women their Latin neighbors are. They have 
among them universities in Lima, Mexico City, Cor- 
doba in Argentina and Sucre which began their work 
from thirteen to eighty-five years before Harvard was 
established, while Peru's second University at Cuzco 
antedates Yale by nine years. The printing press came 
to the New World in 1536, when its first book was 
printed in Mexico, Father Las Casas' plea for a bet- 
ter life, while South America's first book was published 
in Peru about 1584. Patriots of undying fame laid 
the foundations of Latin- American liberty: — Bolivar, 
called the Washington of South America, though San 
Martin was more like him than Bolivar; O'Higgins, 
the Chilean hero; Tiradentes, the forerunner of Brazil- 
ian independence; Morelos and Hidalgo, Catholic 
priests and martyrs in the cause of Mexican liberty. 
Latin-American literature ranks fairly well with 
Anglo-American, though ignorance of Spanish and 
Portuguese prevents North Americans from enjoying 
its treasures. Science is honored by such names as 
Ernesto Quesada, the sociologist, whose library con- 
tains 25,000 volumes in which his own writings fill a 
five-foot shelf. Estanislao Zeballos, the jurist, has a 
collection of 28,000 volumes, and his published works 



34 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

require nine feet of shelf-room. International law 
has been enriched by such authorities as Drago and 
Calvo of Argentina and Ruy Barbosa of Brazil. It 
was a young physician, Dr. Oswaldo Cruz, who 
transformed Rio de Janeiro from a "City of Death" 
into the healthy tropical metropolis of two years later. 
A Cuban, Dr. Carlos A. Finley, discovered and an- 
nounced the communication of yellow fever by mos- 
quitoes, freely acknowledged by General Gorgas and 
Dr. Reed as the foundation for their later elaboration 
and application in the Panama Canal Zone. Poets, 
painters, sculptors, musicians, bear Latin-American 
names of high distinction. And those present at the 
Panama Congress listened to Latins whose ability as 
representatives of diplomacy, law, education and re- 
ligion was abundantly evident. 

As the Commission was seeking for all the truth, 
it did not hide from view the other side of this shin- 
ing shield. A brief table will show its racial basis, as 
roughly divided into seven classes : 

Whites 18,000,000 

Indians 17,000,000 

Negroes 6,000,000 

Mixed White and Indian 30,000,000 

Mixed White and Negro 8,000,000 

Mixed Negro and Indian 700,000 

East Indian, Japanese and Chinese .300,000 

Of Latin America's eighty millions, it is mainly 
the eighteen millions of whites who are measurably 
what one finds in Europe or North America. The 



REDISCOVERING LATIN AMERICA 35 

remaining seventy-seven percent, are not so cultured, 
and most of them are in manifold need. 

Of the mixed populations it may be said that they 
are favored in one particular above those in North 
America, namely, in the absence of any distinct color 
line, whether red or black. One's position in society 
need not be affected by any degree of miscegenation, 
as some of Latin America's most famous men have 
been of mixed ancestry. Social status depends, rather, 
upon innate ability, financial standing, mentality and 
social gifts. Though more than a score of terms are 
in use to denote varying degrees of race admixture, 
Senor Calderon rightly says: "A single half-caste 
race, with here the negro and there the Indian pre- 
dominant over the conquering Spaniard, obtains from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific. There is a greater 
resemblance between Peruvians and Argentines, 
Colombians and Chilians, than between inhabitants 
of two distant provinces of France, ... or be- 
tween the North American of the far West and the 
native of New England. The slight provincial dif- 
ferences enable us the better to understand the unity 
of the continent." Yet he necessarily adds: "There 
is a spontaneous hierarchy in the Latin New World; 
there are superior and inferior democracies, maritime 
nations and inland states. Paraguay will always be 
inferior to the Argentine Republic, Uruguay to Brazil, 
Bolivia to Chile, Ecuador to Peru, Guatemala to 
Mexico; as much from the point of wealth as in 
population and influence." 



36 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

As to the effects of the almost universal mis- 
cegenation, Lord Bryce's studies and South American 
observations find brief expression in these con- 
clusions: (i) The fusion of two parent stocks, one 
more advanced, the other more backward, does not 
necessarily result in producing a race inferior to the 
stronger parent or superior to the weaker. (2) Con- 
quest and control by a race of greater strength have 
upon some races a depressing and almost ruinous 
effect, as in the case of the Peruvians after the com- 
ing of the conquistadores. (3) The ease with which 
the Spaniards intermingled by marriage with the In- 
dians, and the Portuguese with the negroes, shows 
that race repugnance is no such constant factor in 
human affairs as Teutonic peoples are apt to assume. 
(4) As touching the future, it seems certain that the 
races now inhabiting South America will all ulti- 
mately be fused. The Spanish republics — except the 
purely white Argentina and Uruguay — will be Ibero- 
American, Brazil will be Ibero-American-African, 
the process requiring in the Spanish republics two 
centuries or more. (5) Of the quality of the emerging 
mixed race, he writes : "One cannot but fear that 
the Portuguese of tropical Brazil may suffer from 
the further infusion of an element the moral fiber 
of which is conspicuously weak, though there are 
those who argue that the blood of the superior race 
must ultimately transmute the whole. It is not to be 
assumed that the peoples of the Spanish republics will 
necessarily decline, for the present degradation of the 



REDISCOVERING LATIN AMERICA 37 

Indians may be due as much to their melancholy 
history as to inherent defects. It is still too soon to 
be despondent. There may be in the Indian stock a 
reserve of strength, dormant, but not extinct, ready to 
respond to a new stimulus and to shoot upwards under 
more inspiriting conditions." Speaking elsewhere of 
the probable influence of the negro strain, he says: 
"What ultimate effect the intermixture of blood will 
have on the European element in Brazil I will not 
venture to predict. If one may judge from a few 
remarkable cases, it will not necessarily reduce the 
intellectual standard. One of the ablest and most re- 
fined Brazilians I have known had some color, and 
other cases have been mentioned to me." 

Stated in a single paragraph, the three outstanding 
social groupings as they face the missionary are the 
Indians, the lower peon class, and the aristocratic 
land-owning class. Generally speaking, there is no mid- 
dle class such as exists in Europe and North America, 
although in commercial centers one is beginning to 
form. Most of the Indians are still primitive, though 
members of the race have risen to prominence, Benito 
Juarez of Mexico and a number of Peru's Indian 
presidents, for example. To-day most of the Indians 
are pitifully ignorant and are practically neglected by 
social and religious agencies. They are prolific, but 
unsanitary conditions and ignorance of hygiene cause 
a high death-rate. The peon class, next above the 
Indians, is of mixed blood, the union having produced 
a hardy race. They are capable of enduring hard 



38 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

work on a meager diet and live in squalor. They are 
oppressed by the landed class, and neglected by the 
Church and by most of the states. Between the third — 
or aristocratic — class and the other two a gulf is fixed 
that can be most easily bridged by gold. Its members 
dominate most things, live in luxury and provide their 
families with every desirable means for enjoying life 
— like wealthy persons in most lands. Yet, as already 
suggested, they do not strive to keep down the lower 
classes, nor is intermarriage with promising women 
of color tabooed. 

Following its detailed survey of Latin-American 
races, here only cursorily touched upon, Commission 
I presented the claims of these peoples upon the 
evangelical Churches of more favored lands. Immi- 
gration and commerce, the world over, tend to be 
destructive to morals and religion through the removal 
of home restraints, the absence of helps to higher liv- 
ing in the new and usually low environment of the 
fresh immigrant on foreign shores, or the convivial 
habits of men engaged in foreign firms, where 
one's associates have often little respect for morals 
and religion. The Commission bore testimony to the 
godly lives and helpful influence of many business 
men of Latin America, but regretted to report that 
in so many cases moral tragedies of colonization and 
commerce were the result of New World contact. Too 
often one derelict, hailing from Europe or North 
America, means the destruction or crippling of many 
lesser Latin craft with which there has been in- 



REDISCOVERING LATIN AMERICA 39 

jurious collision. The manifest duty of Anglo-Saxon 
Christians is to abate the evils engendered by coloniza- 
tion and commerce. Where one's countrymen exploit, 
one must serve. The character-building forces of 
nations that export the products of breweries, dis- 
tilleries and other instruments of debauchery should 
outreach and circumvent those destructive agencies. 

The imminent peril to faith seen among all classes 
of Latin Americans is an even stronger appeal to 
evangelical Churches. Very few among the intel- 
lectuals have any vital interest in Christianity. The 
Latin-American Church, untouched by the modern 
learning of the nineteenth century, did not concern 
itself with the new rationalism, materialism, pessi- 
mism and naturalism whose full force engulfed the 
Latin scholar who studied in home or foreign uni- 
versities where such movements were dominant. Un- 
aided in their hour of need, the faith of educated 
men suffered shipwreck, or found itself in gravest peril. 
Four groups are noted among the intellectuals, though 
of varying numbers and importance : ( i ) A violent 
anti-clerical party, many of whom extend their opposi- 
tion to religion of every form; (2) the more or less 
well-reasoned atheists and skeptics who look in- 
dulgently upon religion as harmless for women and 
for the lower classes, but who themselves are indif- 
ferent to its personal claims; (3) the dissatisfied 
groups who are groping their way in the darkness 
with the usual result of ending in cynicism and hard- 
ness of heart; and (4) those whose period of doubt 



40 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

and of faith's collapse is before them as they enter 
upon their free higher education. As one listens to 
the roll-call of Latin republics, one is appalled by the 
prevalence of all degrees of unbelief and of opposition 
to Christianity. Surely doubt and denial of all faiths, 
spreading apace and unchecked among eighty millions 
of people, concern the entire Christian world. 
Churches with modern religious scholarship and 
strong faith are bound to offer intellectual Latins the 
torch with which to relight the failing or darkened 
lamps of Christian belief and life. 

Whatever doubt there may be about the justifiable- 
ness of sending representatives of evangelical missions 
to Roman Catholic Latin America, there can be no 
valid objection to heeding the claims of its unevangel- 
ized millions, especially the neglected Indians. That 
section of the Commission's report might be reprinted 
with profit as a clarion call, voicing the deepest of 
Latin-American spiritual needs. Neglect, if you will, 
the thirty millions of mestizos, whose nominal 
Christianity is little better than a "baptized heathen- 
ism," as a Romanist once described it, seventeen mil- 
lions of approximately pure-blooded Indians remain 
for whom very little has been done. These and the 
six millions of pure-blooded negroes, also practically 
neglected, are peoples whose physical, social and 
spiritual condition is a mute yet moving Macedonian 
appeal to the evangelical Church. 

The study of the Latin-American situation con- 
vinced the Commission that missions had a still higher 



REDISCOVERING LATIN AMERICA 41 

and more subtle contribution to make to the Latin 
republics. The influence of spiritual and intellectual 
freedom upon the character of individuals and nations 
is a patent teaching of history. Just as the Roman 
Catholic Church, obedient to its sense of mission, has 
planted its institutions and exerted its influence in the 
midst of Protestant communities and states, so the 
evangelical Churches feel it incumbent upon them to 
supply to Latin America, in so far as its republics do 
not possess them, the foundations of intellectual free- 
dom, the open Bible to be possessed, studied and 
practiced by all, and the recognition of the right and 
value of democracy in ecclesiastical government. 

As the Panama Congress faced these responsibili- 
ties and opportunities, it was heartening to be re- 
minded that the far-flung line of fraternity and co- 
operation was in the main wisely located. The major 
bases for present and more extended operations are 
so chosen as to make them, like St. Paul's strategic 
entrepots, natural and effective centers of out-reach- 
ing lines of diffusion to unoccupied hinterlands. Al- 
most unequaled waterways and sixty-five thousand 
miles of railway, connecting most of the mission 
stations with each other and the ports, are available 
for the gospel messengers. While nearly four-fifths 
of Latin America lies within the tropics, elevated areas 
supply a temperate climate, and cities of the lowlands 
are becoming increasingly sanitary. Excepting the In- 
dian tongues, the two Iberian languages, so nearly akin 
that Spaniard can readily understand Portuguese and 



42 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

vice versa, are the linguae Francae of Latin mission 
fields, — a fact, with their relatively easy acquisition, 
that is at once a help to the faithful student of these 
languages and a peril to the indolent missionary who 
forgets how the evangelical message is crippled and 
disparaged because of his slipshod use of the beautiful 
mother tongues of the Latin peoples. 

Over against these favoring factors were certain 
opposing elements, chief among them racial relations. 
German assurance, English bluffness, American angu- 
larity and other barbarisms, are little calculated to win 
the polite and sensitive Latin — an argument for the 
repression of characteristics that wound or offend. 
The easy weapon of ridicule and the keen edge of 
criticism need to be sheathed, or used with the utmost 
tact and care. The inbred prejudice of Latins toward 
races whose ancestors were known only as the enemies 
of true religion, an inheritance from history, is present 
in many minds. The Latin-American fear lest their 
civilization should be overwhelmed through political 
and commercial aggression is a middle wall of parti- 
tion between them and the rest of the Occidental 
world. Their writers linger over the North American 
peril, the threat of Germany, the menace of Japan; 
while the Monroe Doctrine is a shield whose dark 
side faces southward, the fear of which is hardly 
banished by the northern Christian's assurance, "Our 
call is to evangelize, not to Americanize. ,, If that 
assertion is made with any suggestion of race supe- 
riority, their special abomination, the words are re- 



REDISCOVERING LATIN AMERICA 43 

sented. And then what if all this show of friendliness 
were merely the preparative for northern aggression, 
another case of Porto Rican occupation, of Cuban 
overlordship, of Canal Zone acquisition? 

Religious liberty, constitutionally granted but often 
found only on the statute books, is a help where 
dominant, a hollow mockery in too many instances. 
Religious prejudices, almost universally present and 
ranging from indifferent tolerance to virulent opposi- 
tion, are slowly yielding before increasing knowledge 
and the power of the evangelical program, so that re- 
ligious openness is reported from most republics. 
Now is the pragmatic moment for the evangelical 
Churches to objectify themselves in evangelistic en- 
deavor, in literary production, in educational work 
of intellectual and religious strength, in the extension 
of that welcome hand which has thus far been so 
grudgingly stretched forth in healing, and in a host 
of philanthropic activities so acceptable that it was 
hoped that the Congress might find some point of 
cooperation with the Roman Church in their prosecu- 
tion. Such a prospect was obscured somewhat by the 
lack of national leadership adequately prepared for 
leading on to a bloodless victory the evangelical 
forces, — a defect to be emphasized later in this 
volume. 

The last section of the report preceding its findings 
was devoted to the statistics gathered by the Com- 
mission. Without presenting lifeless figures, which 
will be found in an appendix of the three-volume re- 



44 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

port, a few statements may be made, mainly by way of 
comment. 

The magnitude of the unfinished task was vividly 
impressed by the data presented. The Indian-speak- 
ing aborigines, numbering some six millions, were a 
challenge to Christian heroism and faith, — a part of 
the work almost wholly neglected. Bolivia in its 
province of La Paz alone has more Indians than all 
of the United States, with nothing but the Gospel of 
St. Luke in print to guide them. The missionary there 
must first learn Spanish and through that medium the 
Aymara in order to communicate with his needy 
charges. With the exception of those in the Para- 
guayan Chaco, no prominent work is being done for 
the red man from Allen Gardiner's burial place in 
the remotest south to the Indians of the Texas border- 
lands, though isolated stations exist and heroic work is 
being done. Statistics of literature suitable for Latin- 
American missions do not appear, and even in the 
Commission's report dealing with that subject, they 
are meager; so that it is probably true that this is the 
greatest weakness of the evangelical propaganda. 
Happily the Bible Societies are active and on that 
side the defect is not so noticeable. A task unbegun 
rather than unfinished, one might almost say, is 
that for the higher government student class, where 
figures are also lacking, though this is a most stra- 
tegic section of the Latin community. Zero is the 
numeral representing the number of church edifices 
in Colombia, the fifth republic in size of South Amer- 



REDISCOVERING LATIN AMERICA 45 

ica, though school buildings are so used. Ecuador 
has one church building and Venezuela two. In 
Jamaica and Porto Rico, which are really home mis- 
sion fields, the number of evangelical church mem- 
bers is gratifying. The former island has sent eleven 
workers to its mission in Africa. The average con- 
tribution of the 1,325 Canadian Presbyterian com- 
municants for church purposes in Trinidad was $4.86 
in 191 3. But let the totals, rather than isolated facts, 
convince the reader that Latin America is still in the 
large a neglected part of the world-field, — with one 
evangelical missionary to forty thousand and one 
communicant of its evangelical churches to three hun- 
dred and eleven Romanists or totally unreached Latin 
Americans. Such statements, however, are feeble in- 
deed compared with the impressions made that Friday 
morning as missionary after missionary told of spirit- 
ual destitution everywhere, and of the millions wholly 
unreached thus far by Christianity in any form. If 
one were to use any figure to suggest the dearth of 
missionaries, perhaps a truer impression would be 
given, if it were stated that in the South America of 
greatest destitution, there is one missionary to half 
a million people. 

When the material of the Commission was placed 
before the Congress, the reactions were varied and 
insistent. North American, British, German and 
Latin speakers sounded out imperative calls from a 
score of New World Macedonias north and south of 
the equator. Mexico's fourfold need, as voiced by 



46 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

Senor Garza Mora, was re-echoed once and again 
throughout the day by nationals and missionaries 
alike. Fundamentally an open Bible, faithfully 
preached and holily illustrated, and then this quartette 
of needs in the evangelical propaganda: The raising 
up of a well educated national ministry out of the 
poorly taught and meagerly financed evangelical 
churches; many more schools and higher institutions 
for the training of children and youth under the 
beneficent influences of a glad and brotherly gospel; 
the driving out of some of the feeble or fiercely mili- 
tant literature of the churches by better leaflets and 
books and by a vastly larger volume of them; and a 
more manifest, more efficient cooperation and unity 
among the evangelical agencies. In sections where 
Missions have accomplished more than in others, the 
undertone of deeper want was heard — in this utter- 
ance of Senor Elphick of Chile, for example: "The 
great need, not only of Chile, but of all the countries 
nowadays, is a tremendous revival. . . . There- 
fore I would urge this Congress to send people 
equally to all Latin America, so that all the churches 
may fall upon their knees and pray God to send the 
Holy Spirit into our hearts. We have splendid ma- 
chinery, but we have no power for that machinery." 
Bishop Stuntz closed his seven-minute burst of im- 
passioned oratory with the same refrain: "We need 
[in the Plate region] just what we need in all of these 
countries, — we need the power of God resting upon 
those at work there." 



REDISCOVERING LATIN AMERICA AT 

The absence of diatribes against a Church which 
is not only opposed to evangelical workers, but which 
history has shown to be inadequate to enlighten the 
Latin world, was noticeable; though it was not sur- 
prising that an occasional outcry was heard. Thus 
Sefior Alvaro Reis, a distinguished leader of Brazil, 
where not less than eighty persecutions directed against 
the modern spiritual movement are on record, appealed 
to the Congress to define its attitude and purpose in 
facing the existing Roman Church throughout South 
America. Another sort of semi-discordant, yet wholly 
human, note was the discouraged plea of a canny Scot, 
John Ritchie, for Peru, — as large as France, Belgium, 
Spain, Switzerland and Italy combined. As he looked 
to Porto Rico, smaller than little Connecticut, where 
there are more than three hundred preaching places, 
and then thought of Peru with only thirty-three for- 
eign workers all told, so that twelve departments 
averaging the size of Holland are without a single 
evangelical witness, native or foreign, the question 
of investigating the disparity in distribution of mis- 
sionaries seemed a proper one. Yet his plaint was 
prefaced by a note of thanksgiving that after twenty- 
five years of suffering and patient toil, in November, 
191 5, the day of the open door to preach the Gospel 
throughout Peru had dawned. 

With the afternoon session came a presentation of 
special sections and classes in Latin lands of the New 
World. The Rev. James H. McLean was the spokes- 
man of 45,000 students in higher institutions of learn- 



48 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

ing, less than one percent, of Latin Americans proper, 
who nevertheless exercise ninety-nine percent, of the 
intellectual and moral influence. If nothing effective 
is done for these men and women by missionaries, 
forty-five percent, will be sworn enemies of vital re- 
ligion in a decade, while the remainder will be utterly 
negative in religious matters. How hopeless the best 
of them may become was evidenced by a student who 
told the speaker of his praying to a being, supposed 
to be God, in these words, "Speak to me, if Thou 
exist, for the silence is crushing my soul." The Con- 
gress president, Professor Monteverde, followed the 
presentation with a statement as to work already being 
done for this strategic class. 

Dr. Tucker gave a genuine "big Injun" address, as 
he pleaded for making the red man large in our re- 
spect and aims for future work. In the southern 
half of the Western Hemisphere is the place in which 
to accomplish this desired result. What Mr. Grubb 
and others are already doing is prophetic of still larger 
successes. The Brazilian hinterland was especially 
spoken of as the field for future expansion of the In- 
dian work, the hopefulness of which Dr. Conto de 
Magalhaes had set forth. New York's missionary 
layman, Mr. Eben E. Olcott, told us chapters out of his 
Peruvian experience and of what practical Chris- 
tianity can do for a race that is maltreated and neg- 
lected. One valley which he traveled through was 
populated by only seventy thousand, the remnant of a 
million Indians who succumbed before the hardships 



REDISCOVERING LATIN AMERICA 49 

imposed upon them by the ruthless Spaniards of cen- 
turies ago. 

Dr. S. D. Daugherty spoke of the invasion of Latin 
America by men from Protestant lands, and especially 
those who go from the United States to establish 
banks and to engage in other business. The duty of 
the evangelical Church to these men is obvious. Chris- 
tian firms should send out only Christian gentlemen 
who will elevate the tone of society and help for- 
ward all forms of true religion. 

Certain questions raised by Commission I were next 
discussed. Secretary Earl Taylor began with the vital 
alternative as to whether the Church should address 
itself to the unoccupied fields, or enlarge the work 
already in progress. While he believed that a group 
of Christian business men would vote in favor of 
concentration rather than for a dispersion of forces, he 
inclined to answer both "Yes" and "No." While we 
ought not to concentrate to the exclusion of outlying 
areas, on the other hand diffusion ought not to be at 
the expense of strong centers. To solve the problem 
he pleaded for a "hemispherical" policy that by its 
synergism might lift up the entire Latin- American 
world toward the face of Jesus Christ. A conti- 
nental program will enable the evangelical Church to 
meet both phases of the problem. 

A lack of coordination and cooperation among 
missions seemed to the Rev. Eduardo Pereira of Brazil 
to make them appear as so many army corps in dis- 
order, having no connection nor direction, each going 



30 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

its own way. So inefficient a plan can no longer con- 
tinue; missionaries and nationals alike desire coopera- 
tion and a definite program. Secretary J. E. McAfee 
dwelt especially upon the divided ranks of Protes- 
tantism due to its denominationalism which he felt 
should not be propagated in Latin America; and he 
suggested a number of correctives, chief among them 
the training in union institutions of the Church's 
future leaders. 

The Rev. George H. Brewer answered the question, 
"What is meant by an adequate occupation of the 
field ?" by affirming that it implied efficient leadership, 
first-class equipment, adequate and sympathetic home 
support and the concentration of force at strategic cen- 
ters. An effective unit of occupation for a given area 
lie described as the establishment of an organized 
church with its building, its church home, and an 
ordained ministry devoting full time to church work. 

Professor Beach presented, in reply to the question, 
"Is it desirable to make a scientific or thorough sur- 
vey of the field at the present time? If so, what is 
the most practical plan to accomplish this?" a series 
of propositions showing that now was the time of 
times to undertake this survey and suggesting a prac- 
ticable scheme for such an undertaking — a plan which 
was later placed in charge of delegates to the various 
regional conferences to be acted upon so far as pos- 
sible. 

The Rev. E. M. Sein broke the monotony, of answers 
by a citation of conditions favorable to the evangelical 



REDISCOVERING LATIN AMERICA 51 

missions in Latin America, and to immediate forward 
movements. Religious liberty is finally universally 
proclaimed; barriers are being broken down and men 
are passing out from the domination of a state Church; 
more books and helpful literature — albeit so inade- 
quate — and more readers favor progress; improved 
intercommunication aids the cause of Missions; in- 
creasing harmony and mutual helpfulness inspirit and 
enable the movement to do more with the same forces 
than formerly; the sympathy of governments and of 
men of influence with evangelical education is a valu- 
able asset; and there is a very considerable Christian 
force consecrated and willing for the work of an ag- 
gressive evangelistic movement. 

Three great assets with which we go forth to the 
task of the evangelical Churches laboring in Latin 
America were discussed as the closing word upon this 
Commission's report. Dr. Speer was the speaker and 
these were his points in briefest outline : We are deal- 
ing first of all with hopeful nations, with peoples of 
great national aspirations. Yet this advantage brings 
with it grave problems demanding commensurate wis- 
dom. Even more helpful is the second asset of in- 
tellectual assumption and of religious conceptions 
wholly wanting or held in weakest solution in Asiatic 
and African mission fields, but present in all these 
republics, except among the most primitive tribes. 
One of the greatest hindrances to Latin- American mis- 
sionaries was mentioned as the third asset, the skep- 
ticism of these lands. This attitude of doubt and re- 



52 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

ligious questioning is so prevalent in all Occidental 
institutions of higher learning that the missionaries 
are already familiar with the philosophical and re- 
ligious problems which must be met on the Latin- 
American fields. 

Closely akin to these assets are three needs 
which are especially pressing. The vast Indian 
problem calls for many things, but especially for 
heroic and undiscourageable devotion to a sparsely 
scattered remnant whose degradation and seeming 
hopelessness are repelling. The important student 
class and the great numbers of foreigners suggest 
other needs. A million Italians in Argentina, "who 
constitute one of the greatest blocks of masked atheism 
that can be found anywhere in the world," and neg- 
lected thousands of other nationalities throughout 
these lands, who are a leaven of evil rather than of 
good, make manifest the clamant need of character- 
producing power in these countries — the need which 
the crucified Christ alone, the Christ who rose again, 
can supply. The third need is that our international 
relationships in this Western Hemisphere should be 
increasingly penetrated with the spirit of Christ. Mr. 
Colton's question of the morning, as to whether free 
commerce in rationalism was reasonable, while there 
was no gift of the Bible and its spiritual treasures for 
these nations, was a most important reminder of 
international duty. Nationalism and racial ambitions 
should be subjected to the common fellowship and the 
community of interest of all mankind. 



REDISCOVERING LATIN AMERICA 53 

Four personal duties with which the discussions of 
the day were impressing the Congress were mentioned 
in Dr. Speer's final paragraph. Prayer that the Lord 
of the Harvest may send forth enough of the right sort 
of reapers into these ripe fields was a manifest duty; 
the obligation to draw near to one another and 
Church to Church for a united effort, that the spirit 
of Christ may come down to make Latin evangelical 
churches great torches for the illumination of the 
darkness, is equally obvious; a third duty is to pene- 
trate with the very mind and spirit of Christ all our 
thinking about what we do, about our own individual 
relationships, about the great body of those outside 
the Church — a duty the importance of which is inten- 
sified when one recalls the dissensions, want of unity 
and divisive problems present in all the nations rep- 
resented in the Congress ; and beyond the assets, needs 
and duties of this Latin-American field, is the over- 
whelming sense of the stupendousness of our task, 
of the all-sufficiency of God, of the power of faith 
when men open themselves to Him; so that He is 
our great, our personal, our present duty. 

It was most fitting that at the midday devotions 
Bishop Lloyd should have focussed the thought of the 
delegates upon St. John's reassuring words, "In him 
was life, and the life was the light of men:" — light 
so much needed the world over, and Latin America 
more needy in many primitive sections and races than 
many other lands; life that is illumined by the Star of 
Bethlehem and by the Sun of Righteousness brighten- 



54 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

ing millions of groping, darkened lives. Yet both 
light and life are obscured by clouds of brotherly mis- 
understanding and divided counsels. Hence, perhaps, 
these words in the Bishop's prayer: "Make it im- 
possible for us to be separated. Compel all Thy peo- 
ple to be one, that men may see the light that lightens 
men, that liberty may come through the knowledge 
of truth, that men may have their life in abundance, 
that our Master may have His will." 

As a backward look over the day's deliberations, 
Professor Braga's closing prayer was also very ap- 
propriate. "Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the 
word of the Spirit and for the love of Jesus Christ. 
We confess that we have not done our duty in the 
measure of the opportunity opened to us by Thy loving 
providence. We beseech Thee, O divine fountain of 
grace and power, to give us renewed strength and 
uncompromising devotion to our Lord's service. In 
the name of our Redeemer, the Son of the Living 
God, Christ Jesus. Amen." 



Ill 

INTERPRETATION, MESSAGE, METHOD 

Commission II, on "Message and Method," whose 
members had been entrusted with the delicate and im- 
portant task of drawing up a brief statement of those 
aspects of the Christian message which would seem to 
require special emphasis at the present time in Latin 
America, and to suggest methods of presenting and 
interpreting the message and of most helpfully apply- 
ing its truths in practical ways to actual conditions in 
the countries concerned, was perhaps the one that 
awakened the most solicitude and that elicited the 
greatest volume of prayer, both before the Congress 
and during its presentation. Yet as the delegates met 
that Saturday morning and looked out eastward to- 
ward the peaceful Pacific, its shimmering surface 
seemed to reflect God's calm, while its high-rising 
tide was a symbol of the heights to be reached on that 
day which many had anticipated with trepidation. The 
very palm fronds with which the place of meeting 
was decorated, as they swayed and rustled in the 
breeze, were assuringly prophetic of the victory of 
that memorable afternoon. 

More, even, than the report of Commission VIII on 
"Cooperation and the Promotion of Unity' ' did this 

55 



56 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

one arouse pre-Congress discussion among those who 
doubted the wisdom of carrying missionary activity 
into Roman Catholic lands. Among evangelical mis- 
sionaries themselves were varying degrees of tolerance 
or bitterness toward that Church which dominates 
Latin-American Christianity. Men and women, who 
as Latins had grown up under its shadow and who 
had found it a vine of hunger and thirst, or who had 
felt the wounding force of its scourging branches, — 
one delegate bore on his body the marks of the evan- 
gelical confessor, — were apprehensive lest the irenicon 
of the Commission should conceal facts which to them 
seemed the sole reason for their present faith, ac- 
cepted because of the character and fruitage of the 
Church which they had felt compelled to flee in order 
to save themselves and reach the gospel norm. Polemics 
seemed to a few ardent Latins to be justified by Jesus' 
attitude seen in the twenty- third chapter of St. Mat- 
thew, and as demanded rather than irenics. 

The Commission prefaced its report with an illu- 
minating interpretation of Latin- American history, 
especially on its religious side, and of present-day 
conditions, — an amplification of certain facts presented 
by Commission I. Iberian blood, mingled as it was 
with Indian and negro strains, never succeeded in 
changing the primitive element into either Spanish or 
Portuguese; so that Sefior Calderon goes so far as 
to class Mexico, Peru, Paraguay and Bolivia as In- 
dian nations, while he speaks of the general popula- 
tion as a "babel of races, so mixed that it is im- 



INTERPRETATION, MESSAGE, METHOD 57 

possible to discover the definite outlines of the future 
type." Of course in Brazil it is the negro rather 
than the Indian who is similarly in evidence. Unfor- 
tunately in this racial admixture, the Iberians who 
first gave direction to this blood fusion were, for the 
most part, adventurers, freebooters, soldiers, — unprin- 
cipled, lawless, contemptuous of moral restraint, de- 
sirous of gold only, — who largely composed the 
colonial armies of Spain and Portugal. It was only 
when the Conquest was well advanced and the founda- 
tions laid that the stream of higher Castilian culture 
came in sufficient volume to offset incipient moral 
chaos, though too late to prevent an inheritance that 
hung like a deadweight upon the New World of the 
Latins. The Commission truly pointed out that "the 
national complexity of the Latin Americans, explained 
by their historic origins and heritage, is reflected in 
moral standards and ideals which are quite different 
from those of Europe, as well as of most of North 
America. Account must be taken of this in all at- 
tempts at religious approach. We have here a num- 
ber of racial constituents, each bearing its own tradi- 
tion and all combining to produce a highly composite 
and subtle character, whose mental quality must be 
carefully analyzed and whose motives must be 
thoroughly grasped, if the Gospel is to be brought in- 
telligently to bear upon their peculiar needs." Special 
attention was called to the potent influence exercised 
upon the new democracies by France, of whose contri- 
butions South-American writers make the most glow- 



58 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

ing acknowledgment. No greater problem confronts 
the missionary enterprise in these lands, in so far as 
its agents are Anglo-Saxons, than that of sympathetic 
penetration into the Latin- American spirit. 

The inheritance of this composite race from prim- 
itive Indian faiths is not what the promise of elaborate 
polytheisms of the Incas of Peru and of the Aztecs of 
Central America and Mexico would suggest. The 
policy of the Spanish conquerors of crushing out the 
civilization of a conquered foe, rather than of absorb- 
ing its useful features, caused to fall into ruins even 
the ethicized and spiritualized sun-worship of the Incas 
and the pure monotheism centered in Pachacamac, the 
Peruvian creator of the universe. While these higher 
aspects of native religion were crushed out, the more 
vulgar superstitions and practices of heathenism sur- 
vived and are perpetuated to-day among a large pro- 
portion of the seventeen millions of Indians scattered 
from Mexico to Cape Horn. Thus at Guadalupe, 
Mexico's holy shrine, and at Copacabana on Lake Titi- 
caca, Indians still dance before the church and perform 
other rites of their pre-Christian ancestors. And so it 
happens that the blind gropings, superstitious fears and 
crude ritual of primitive cults have become mixed 
with the prevailing religion of to-day and leave five 
millions of Indians almost as pagan as if the New 
World had never been discovered. 

To understand the Roman Catholic Church of Latin 
America, four facts must be borne in mind; and first 
the manner of its introduction. Catholicism entered 





INDUSTRIAL MISSION 
STREET PREACHING 






INTERPRETATION, MESSAGE, METHOD 59 

the New World under the aegis and control of the 
Spanish Crown rather than with the initiative and 
under the direction of the Pope. It was thus bound up 
with the romance of discovery, the lust of wealth and 
the carnage and subjugation of resisting peoples. The 
Roman pontiff, according to Bernard Moses, "could 
do nothing by himself in this immense territory; he 
had not the means of establishing in it the institutions 
necessary for the propagation of religion." The au- 
thority given by Pope Alexander VI to the sover- 
eigns of Castile and Leon over the Latin section of 
America was enlarged by the bull of Julius II, so that 
the establishment of churches, monasteries, or other 
religious institutions, as well as all ecclesiastical ap- 
pointments, present or future, should be subject to the 
consent of the king. The Spanish government was 
thus a missionary society; the king was its invested 
head with veto power ; and the various Orders and the 
secular clergy were under civil regulations greatly 
hampering them. 

Yet it cannot be doubted that a genuine missionary 
interest lay behind these ambitious — often selfish — 
schemes of conquest. Columbus named his landfall 
Holy Savior — San Salvador; the Portuguese first 
called Brazil Santa Cruz — Holy Cross; Cortes was 
commanded to Christianize the Mexicans, and on his 
standard was emblazoned a red cross with the legend, 
"Friends, let us follow the cross, and under this sign, 
if we have faith, we shall conquer f from the time of 
his and Pizarro's first expedition monks or priests 



60 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

were required to sail in every Spanish ship bound for 
discovery or for war. Nevertheless recent Latin- 
American scholarship reflects the revulsion against 
Christianity and the Roman Church because of the 
unworthy methods of the early propaganda. 

A second fact to be considered in Latin America's 
Church is its missionary leadership as seen in history 
and to-day. Three orders, the Dominicans, the Fran- 
ciscans and the Jesuits, led among the others in this 
propaganda. The exactions of their primitive and 
barbaric environment bred in them the power of initi- 
ative, an aggressive resourcefulness, which, inspired 
by religious fervor, not only rose to great heroisms of 
service, but did not shrink from conflict with secular 
interests. In the sacrificial ardor and versatile labor 
with which they set themselves to win pagan peoples to 
civilization and the Church, the first two generations 
of these missionaries have never been surpassed. 
"There was no tropical wilderness too intricate or far- 
stretching for them to traverse, no water too wide for 
them to cross, no rock or cave too dangerous for them 
to climb or enter, no Indian tribe too dull or refractory 
for them to teach." Preeminent among the three 
orders were the Jesuits. They were powerful in 
Mexico, but were famous for their labors in Brazil 
and Paraguay. Their achievements in the latter coun- 
try, alluded to in the previous chapter, brought one 
hundred thousand Indians into their reductions where 
they were taught the rudimentary arts of civilization 
and the tenets of Catholicism. What manner of men 



INTERPRETATION, MESSAGE, METHOD 61 

these orders sent to Latin America may be under- 
stood from the biographies of missionaries like No- 
brega of Brazil, Catadina of Paraguay, Baraze of 
Peru, Pedro Claver of Venezuela and Las Casas, "pro- 
tector of the Indians" everywhere. 

Thirdly, Roman Catholicism's spirit and method are 
likewise to be considered. From Ferdinand to Philip 
III, a militant, ecclesiastical autocracy prevailed 
wherein the defence and extension of the established 
Church were inseparably related. Ardent evangelism, 
patient instruction, self-denying labor, humanitarian 
ministry and martyrdom alternated with and often 
accompanied wholesale slaughter and cruel subjection 
of the natives, spoliation of their lands and a criminal 
use of their toil and wealth. The type of Christianity 
transplanted to the New World was necessarily Spain's 
mediaeval orthodoxy. The early missionary fervor 
was soon lost in the tasks of organization and of con- 
trolling religious opinion. Monasteries were built, 
universities were founded, wealth was accumulated. 
The Dominicans set up the Inquisition in Mexico, 
Cartagena and Lima in the attempt to reduce a conti- 
nent to intellectual and spiritual conformity. The 
apostolic fires had burned low and decadence set in. 

Missionary methods followed the ideals of that age. 
Like Charlemagne and Vladimir, the conquerors often 
gave the Indians the option of war or submission to 
the Roman faith. When the former was the alter- 
native chosen, they were reduced and baptized. In 
Mexico there were wholesale conversions. Gomara 



62 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

estimates the number baptized during Cortes' conquest 
as between six and ten millions, and adds: "In short, 
they [the Spaniards] converted as many as they con- 
quered." Coercive conversion was against the protest 
of Pope Paul III who declared that the people were 
to be "called to the faith of Jesus Christ by preaching 
and by the example of a good and holy life." Las 
Casas even more loftily pleaded : "The means for es- 
tablishing the Faith in the Indies should be the same 
as those by which Christ introduced his religion into 
the world — mild, peaceable and charitable." Jesuit 
methods were catechetical, disciplinary and industrial, 
but ultra-paternal. In the Paraguayan reductions, 
their peaceful villages provided the Indians with pro- 
tection, instruction, cooperative labor and the bless- 
ings of a Christian leadership. Unhappily the system 
did not secure self-supporting communities, nor did 
it produce a native agency for further evangelization. 
With the withdrawal of the missionaries, they fell 
away, and there was no permanent Christian contri- 
bution made to the moral uplift of the continent. 

The fourth item to be considered in connection with 
the Latin-American Church is its present status. The 
establishment of republics introduced ideas of freedom 
and progress incompatible with a ruling ecclesiasticism. 
The ultimate result is that at last all Latin-American 
republics recognize the right of religious liberty and 
of toleration, even if they do not actually secure them. 
Roman Catholicism in varying degrees preserves the 
aspect of a state religion and professes to occupy ade- 



INTERPRETATION, MESSAGE, METHOD 63 

quately all of Latin America, for which it desires to 
assume sole religious responsibility, resenting and op- 
posing the proffered help of evangelical Churches. 

Scientific candor based on the best testimony of 
Roman Catholic and Protestant sources compels the 
belief that the Latin Church is unable to do for these 
republics what their inhabitants need to see accom- 
plished. Its priests, with a few notable exceptions, 
are discredited with the thinking classes. Its moral life 
is weak and its spiritual witness faint. It is weighted 
with mediaevalism and other non-Christian accretions. 
It labors under "the grave misfortune" — to use Lord 
Bryce's words — of the "absence of a religious founda- 
tion for thought and conduct." The Commission 
summed up the net results of the Roman Catholic prop- 
aganda in the words of Canon Robinson, an Anglican 
historian of missions who would probably disapprove 
of evangelical work in Latin America except for the 
wholly unevangelized. "We realize and we thank God 
for the good work which the Roman Catholic missions 
have done and are doing in many parts of the world ; 
but our appreciation of this cannot blind our eyes to 
the fact that in Central and South America the mis- 
sions of the Roman Catholic Church have proved an 
almost complete failure." Of South America, he adds : 
"After three centuries of nominal Christianity, any 
conversion of its peoples which will involve the prac- 
tice of the elementary teaching of Christianity lies still 
in the seemingly distant future." 

Evangelical missions were barely alluded to in the 



64 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

report. Beginning with the French Calvinistic mission 
to Brazil of 1555-6, which failed because of the per- 
fidy of Villegagnon, continued in the Dutch attempt 
under Johann Moritz of 1637-44, permanently estab- 
lished by the Moravians in St. Thomas, W. I., in 1732 
and in what is now British Guiana in 1735, starved out 
with the tragic death of Captain Allen Gardiner and 
his six brave companions in 1851 on Tierra del Fuego, 
the later period of enduring evangelical work in the 
Latin states began with Dr. Kalley's mission, estab- 
lished in Brazil in 1855. Many Societies have entered 
since then and to-day are doing an excellent work, 
though amid great difficulties. They are thus a help- 
ful part of Latin America's inheritance from the recent 
past. 

Upon such an historical background the Latin repub- 
lics of our day must be viewed. Their citizens have 
gradually elaborated an exalted theory of the state, of 
society, of government and a democratic idealism rich 
in visions of liberty, brotherhood, justice and peace. 
Yet this idealism has only incipiently realized itself. 
It has ambitious dreams for the future, embodied in 
the political ideology of the statesman, the enthusiasm 
of sociologists, the fervid eloquence of orators and in 
the poetry and prose of the indigenous literature. 
Surely this strong, developing, eclectic congeries of 
important republics has the right to the best that the 
world's experience has to give, particularly in the 
realm of education and religion. 

As for the bearer of the evangelistic message, it is 



INTERPRETATION, MESSAGE, METHOD 65 

obvious at the outset that the preacher of Christ in 
Latin America must cherish in his own heart and mind 
and must convey to his hearers the masterful con- 
sciousness that he is declaring the true revelation of 
God which is older than Romanism and which from 
apostolic days has constituted the true substance of 
the saving gospel of divine grace. Controversy, when 
necessary because of attacks which are likely to occa- 
sion misunderstanding if unmet, or because it is some- 
times essential to clear the ground for the constructive 
presentation of a positive message, should never go 
beyond the point of "speaking the truth in love." 

The evangelical messenger in carrying out this pro- 
gram not only takes his text, but expounds his whole 
message, from and by the authority of the Bible. He 
should so present it that it will appear to be the most 
catholic of books, and not merely an evangelical docu- 
ment. Hearers may be reminded that the Roman 
Church accepts and appeals to the authority of this 
Book as the Word of God. Upon this point the de- 
crees of the Council of Trent, the teachings of great 
Roman Catholic theologians, and even the encyclical 
of the late Pope against modernism, are unanimous. 
The distinctive position of the evangelical Church is 
embodied in its twofold affirmation: First, that as the 
teaching of Christ and of His apostles was addressed 
to the poor and unlearned, as well as to the rich and 
learned, and as it was preserved in the Bible, this Book 
can be used by all classes and races to know what is 
essential for salvation concerning the Triune God. 



66 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

Second, nothing which has been declared by Christ and 
His apostles to be necessary for salvation can be added 
to, or subtracted from, by any other authority, with- 
out serious injury to the soul and resulting eternal 
loss. An essential part of this gospel is the possibility 
of awakening a soul deadened by sin, and the reality 
of its communion with God. It is supremely impor- 
tant that, as the individual at the last must answer to 
God personally, so he should at all times have direct 
dealings with Him, without any priestly mediation. 

In lands where the crucifix is so prominent a symbol, 
the message of a living Christ needs to be emphasized. 
His atoning sacrifice was made once for all. By it 
He became the only Saviour of mankind, making the 
intervention of His mother and of the saints unneces- 
sary. As the risen Christ, He is the exclusive Head 
of the Church, seeing that He "liveth evermore." No 
more inspiring message can be given the men of Latin 
America than that of the personal leadership of Jesus 
Christ. The greatest and the humblest are impressed 
by the idea of a privilege so unexpected in the light of 
their former training, so surpassing in its essential 
wonder and power, so evidently based upon New Tes- 
tament teachings. Experience shows that direct and 
controversial public attack upon the worship of the 
Virgin, when thrust into the foreground of the work, 
awakens only fanatical hatred and detestation of Prot- 
estantism. But when the message of fellowship with 
God through the Redeemer, and of the promised lead- 
ership of Christ, is steadily proclaimed, Mariolatry 



INTERPRETATION, MESSAGE, METHOD 67 

and saint- worship fall away. The teachings of Jesus 
are the supreme guide of human life. They are to 
be applied to our social conditions, to our industrial, 
political and ecclesiastical problems. 

The spiritual life, so helpfully ministered unto by 
Roman Catholic writers, is in peril in many of the 
Latin-American churches, as may be seen if one cares 
to attend their formal, often unintelligibly mumbled 
services. Penance should be replaced by repentance; 
images need to be exchanged for Christlikeness and a 
sainthood imprinted on the heart; the confessional is 
to be made unnecessary by a consistent, daily confes- 
sion of Christ in the holy life; the sacrifice of the mass 
must be subordinated to and symbolical of the daily 
cross-bearing of all who joyously follow the footsteps 
of the world's Burden-bearer. 

The Church and its fellowship should be made allur- 
ingly attractive to those who must suffer much in 
leaving the Church of their childhood, followed by its 
virulent anathemas. The evangelical messenger should 
explain fully the underlying unity of the various Prot- 
estant denominations, if he would win Latins who 
love uniformity and dislike ecclesiastical variety. He 
should make it equally clear that he does not come to 
bring an exotic organization, but rather desires to aid 
in establishing a truly indigenous, apostolic Church, 
whose atmosphere shall be socially and spiritually 
helpful. Even the church building should be suffi- 
ciently ecclesiastical to satisfy the tastes of those who 
shrink from the plain, Puritan boxes, unadorned in 



68 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

any satisfying way, of some missions. Some plan 
should be devised to supply forms of worship accepta- 
ble to persons accustomed to the order and beauty of 
Roman churches, where mystery and symbolism is 
dominant. Unprepared services, informal pulpit man- 
ners, familiar or irreverent tones in prayer, should 
be as studiously avoided as offhand sermons delivered 
in half -intelligible Spanish or Portuguese. 

The Commission emphasized the social gospel in its 
bearings upon the evangelical program. This is de- 
manded by the industrial revolution resulting from 
Latin America's development of its virgin resources 
and from the incoming of the factory system. Scores 
of vital problems arising therefrom clamor for solution 
already. These changes coming en masse, and not 
gradually as with us, are liable to wreck the existing 
social organization of Latin America and to alienate 
workingmen from the Church. Manifestly a preven- 
tive social endeavor is demanded here, rather than 
remedial services. Community life and social reforms 
should first be studied, then discussed in a lecture room 
apart from the church or chapel, so as to attract men 
who avoid evangelical meeting places. With a gospel 
basis, these addresses will make public sentiment. 

Two actual examples of a wisely coordinated social 
work under evangelical direction were instanced by 
the Commission. One was the People's Central Insti- 
tute of the Southern Methodist Mission in Rio de Ja- 
neiro, which is a downtown, institutional forward 
movement to reach the masses in the commercial and 



INTERPRETATION, MESSAGE, METHOD 69 

business centers, as well as slum-dwellers and sea- 
faring classes. It is organized in seven departments — 
that of evangelization and religious instruction, the 
departments of elementary and practical education, of 
varied physical training, of charity and help, of recre- 
ation and amusement, of employment, and one for 
seamen. 

A second simpler and yet more effective piece of 
work was that of the Christian Woman's Board of 
Missions at Piedras Negras, Mexico. This People's 
Institute was the outgrowth of a small reading-room, 
where the discussion of public issues called forth a 
series of public conferences on civics and morals at the 
municipal theater. These aroused so much interest 
that there was an imperative demand for an expansion 
of the work and for a permanent home for the enter- 
prise. A popular subscription provided the funds for 
the present well-equipped building, intended for seek- 
ing points of contact with the higher classes who could 
not be persuaded to attend religious meetings. Its 
dedication was an official act of the government, which 
often holds patriotic meetings in its auditorium. Night 
classes in fifteen different subjects are conducted for 
young men and women, with as many as one hundred 
and fifty enrolled at one time. One of the Institute's 
most interesting features is a Sunday morning meet- 
ing, generally attended by people who would never 
appear at an ordinary evangelical preaching service. 
A government official, or some prominent citizen 
known for his high moral character, is asked to open 



70 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

the discussion of the topic chosen, which afterward 
is thrown open to all present. The director presides 
and closes with his own presentation, showing the 
bearing of Christian teaching on the problem. These 
meetings and others of a debating club have often 
awakened interest and initiated movements for com- 
munity betterment, which have been taken over 
subsequently by the government or other organ- 
izations. These two Institutes illustrate disinterested 
love, which is in direct contrast with the dominant 
selfishness of trade and diplomacy and which con- 
sequently attracts and often wins Latin Americans. 
In other words, missionaries are doing what Dr. 
Grenf ell thus describes : "When you set out to com- 
mend your gospel to men who don't want it, there is 
only one way to go about it — to do something for them 
that they will understand." Social service is pre- 
eminently such a magnet. 

Carrying the Christian message to the educated 
classes is both strategic and highly important. For 
two generations Comte, Herbert Spencer and Jeremy 
Bentham have ruled the minds of educated Latin 
Americans with their doctrines of positivism, mechan- 
istic evolution and utilitarianism. Leaders of the 
Roman Church have been unable to stem the harmful 
tide. To these intellectuals the evangelical worker 
carries the same message of fellowship with God 
through Jesus Christ, and after their entrance upon it, 
seeks to bring them to an open confession of their 
faith and into Christian service. But just here a 



INTERPRETATION, MESSAGE, METHOD 71 

serious obstacle is confronted in the fact that they 
shrink from open connection with evangelical com- 
munities composed almost wholly of the poor and 
uncultured, with no strong intellectual leadership. 
Such leadership should be provided through special 
education of both national and foreign workers, 
hints for which training are wisely set forth in the 
Commission's report. The subjects of evolution, re- 
ligion, historical Christianity, the Bible, the Church > 
and social ethics, are those demanding emphasis. The 
final chapter of the report enters into the preparation 
for Christian work in Latin America with great par- 
ticularity. 

With this body of important facts before them, the 
delegates were given full freedom to speak, regardless 
of whether they had sent in cards or not, and without 
any limitations except those imposed by the spirit of 
Christ. The two tendencies among them were well 
illustrated by Sefiorita Cortes of the Young Women's 
Christian Association and the Rev. F. A. Barroetavena 
of Argentina. The latter held that the Roman Catholi- 
cism of North and of Latin America were so differ- 
ent that the liberal attitude toward the system would 
be quickly changed, if its southern type were under- 
stood. Here the Church has so tyrannized over the 
inferior peoples that many hate religion. He held that 
as a general rule an attitude of warfare should be 
adopted toward the Roman Church. Sefiorita Cortes, 
speaking from her own experience, said that at first 
she was approached in ways that antagonized her, 



12 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

which only increased her loyalty to Rome. Later she 
began to examine evangelical views by herself, saw 
contradictions in Romanism, came in touch with mis- 
sionaries who loved and prayed for her and thus ar- 
rived at a glad acceptance of Protestanism. Since then 
she has adopted in her work the "loving method" 
spoken of by Dr. Oldham, and it has been most 
successful. 

A few points made in the floor discussions may be 
taken as typical of all that was said. Mr. Hurrey, 
speaking concerning work for the educated classes, ad- 
vocated friendly helpfulness, particularly toward those 
who go to the United States for education and who 
find themselves friendless and in need in our colleges 
and universities. Meet them on shipboard before land- 
ing to advise with them. In New Orleans, Baltimore 
and New York have places where they can be received 
and saved from disreputable resorts. Such friendli- 
ness will result in the success that was related in the 
case of a brother of one of the Central-American 
presidents who went to the Northfield student confer- 
ence with prejudice and determined to leave. The 
Christian spirit displayed there entirely changed his 
attitude, and he is now most approachable. Mr. Ewald, 
who as an Association secretary has had much to do 
with Latin students, urged the importance of setting 
apart men to reach the student and cultured classes, 
thus providing them a leadership that would command 
their respect. Particularly important is it to raise up 
an educated Latin ministry to supplement the inade- 



INTERPRETATION, MESSAGE, METHOD 73 

quacies of missionaries, especially in the free use of 
the Latin tongues, though some of these missionaries 
seem to have been born with Latin hearts and Iberian 
tact. In twenty or thirty places establish a center pre- 
sided over by a strong man who will give himself to this 
class, so strategic in the community. Secretary Ewing 
of the Christian Association told of methods used 
among university students, beginning with activities 
for promoting good fellowship, sociability and physi- 
cal upbuilding which, since student work was estab- 
lished, affect the lives of nearly five hundred who 
attend the Uruguayan student conferences. Social 
service has been organized and a group of thirty are 
making a preliminary social survey. In the National 
University of Buenos Aires an inner circle of fifteen 
believers use every opportunity to present vital Chris- 
tianity, so that during the six years points of contact 
with about two thousand students, professors and gov- 
ernment officials have been established. 

Mr. Lenington of Brazil told typical stories of the 
effect produced upon auditors by preaching the father- 
hood of God. A person said to him once: "I will 
always thank God that I came into this first evangelical 
service, because I never knew before that God was my 
Father/ ' A federal judge was overheard saying to 
some fellow lawyers whom he was urging to attend 
a service at which the Lord's Prayer was to be ex- 
pounded: "I want all of you men to go to-night, be- 
cause you have never realized what it is to know God 
as your Father, as I have heard that man tell of the 



74 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

Father's kingdom, the Father's will, the Father's name. 
He is the Father who cares for all the needs of life." 

Mr. Allison of Guatemala gave as the chief hin- 
drance in the Romanist's way, preventing his accept- 
ance of evangelical teaching, the wide circulation by 
Catholics of commendations of their Church by Prot- 
estants, and warned North Americans against "the 
Protestant defense of Romanism." The Rev. Eduardo 
C. Pereira reminded the Congress of the twenty-third 
chapter of St. Matthew, of the attitude of the apostles 
toward the Scribes and Pharisees and of St. Paul's 
denunciation of error and said that he desired to 
imitate these great exemplars not only in proclaiming 
the love of the Gospels, but also in calling attention 
to religious errors taught in Latin lands without war- 
rant from Scripture. 

Evangelistic campaigns as a method of extending 
the message were discussed by two specialists, Dr. 
John R. Mott and Miss Rouse. Cooperation even of 
two persons was, according to Dr. Mott, an essential 
prerequisite for success. With united plans campaigns 
are possible in most unpromising sections, as in Rus- 
sia, for example. When they are well organized and 
manned, immense fruitage follows as in Sherwood 
Eddy's Asiatic work, seconded by men like Ding 
Li-mei in China. Conclusions that he had reached 
were these : ( i ) If we want great results, we must con- 
centrate. (2) We must sink our differences and fall 
in humility at the feet of Christ, all of us united. (3) 
Men must be set apart for special work — men like Dr. 



INTERPRETATION, MESSAGE, METHOD 75 

William E. Taylor of China and Baron Nicolai of 
Russia, though sometimes important aid is given by 
men from without, like Mr. Eddy. 

From her successful student work in European coun- 
tries, Miss Rouse had learned that one must speak out 
frankly, even though it is a great adventure. National 
psychology will greatly aid in evangelistic work, when 
it is understood and used. Students are to be met on 
grounds familiar to them — if religion is a matter of 
rewards and punishments, or of auto-suggestion, begin 
from that point. Do not attack the customs and re- 
ligions of a country, and avoid the appearance of 
trying to win converts to any given Christian church. 
Follow up the campaign with apologetic literature, not 
American or English, but material prepared by nation- 
als of a given country. 

What this sketch of a wonderful day has utterly 
failed to reproduce is the growing spirit of unity in the 
delegates* attitude toward all phases of opposition to 
Roman Catholicism. Antagonism and bitterness grad- 
ually melted into a sense of brotherly longing to aid 
Romanists toward a fulness of Christian love and life 
which they sadly lack and for which many inwardly 
hunger. Single sentences, petitions in prayer, and espe- 
cially the remarks of Dr. Oldham and Bishop Brown, 
the latter the chairman of the Commission, were the 
means used by God to bring the Congress to this frame 
of mind. At the morning session, Dr. Oldham was the 
lock-operator in the control house — to employ Canal 
terminology — who opened the flood-gates that begaa 



76 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

to lift the Congress to the higher level. After a touch- 
ing reference to his early training in a Roman Catholic 
home and the turning to evangelical views, he said 
with the utmost tenderness and yet with profoundest 
feeling that if it were his privilege to minister to those 
of a different faith, his Saviour would surely teach him 
what should be the trend of his teaching and the tone 
of his appeal. Bishop Brown, who had been a mis- 
sionary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Brazil 
for twenty-four years, concluded the work of the day's 
conference sessions with a story which so well illus- 
trates the spirit of the man and of the majority of the 
delegates that it is reproduced at length. It will sug- 
gest how much is lost by a condensed report like the 
present one, and will exhibit the interpreter, the mes- 
sage, the interpretation and the method as nothing 
else could do. 

The incident is this, in part : "I remember there was 
a woman of about sixty years who began to attend 
the services of my church. It was my custom to go 
down immediately at the close of the service to the 
door to shake hands and to say some word to everyone 
present, but that good woman invariably escaped be- 
fore I could get there. After attending every service — 
Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday eve- 
ning — for perhaps three or four months, she remained 
and I had an opportunity of speaking with her. I told 
her how great had been my pleasure in seeing her in 
constant attendance upon the church services, and I 
asked if I might have the pleasure of visiting her at 



INTERPRETATION, MESSAGE, METHOD 77 

her home. With the courtesy which never fails, she 
said, using that phrase which is so familiar, 'My house 
is at your orders/ I went to see her, and in the course 
of the conversation I asked her what it was that first 
attracted her to the church. She replied that the first 
thing was that in passing the doors, she heard a large 
number of persons singing. That was a strange thing 
to her. She made some inquiry and learned that we 
were Protestants. That frightened her somewhat, be- 
cause there are so many of the plainer people who 
think that a Protestant is one who denies the existence 
of God. Then she said: 'After I had overcome my 
fear, I ventured to attend your church, but I was 
afraid to speak to you. One thing that attracted my 
attention was the singing of the hymns in the Portu- 
guese language. I could understand it; and then you 
read something from a book/ she had never known 
anything about the Bible, 'and I understood that. Then 
you spoke to us all. I understood every word you said. 
I would like to be a member of your church, but there 
is one difficulty. When I was a child ten years of age, 
my mother on her deathbed called me to her and gave 
me a little image of St. Anthony and asked me as her 
dying request that on given days I would kneel before 
that image and make my devotions. From that day to 
this, I have complied with that dying request. You 
have never said one word in any sermon that I have 
heard directly touching this particular point; but I 
know perfectly well that if I were a member of your 
church, I ought not to continue that practice. If I 



78 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

were to discontinue it, it would seem to me as if I 
were dishonoring the memory of my mother/ 

"I know not how others might deal with that case. 
But I confess that as I looked into her face, I said: 
'You mistake me greatly, if you think I do not under- 
stand fully and sympathize deeply with you, but I want 
to say just two things. The first is that if your mother 
had had the light that you now have, she would never 
have made that request. The second thing is that I 
want to make a very simple request of you. Go and 
light your candle; kneel and make your devotions 
before the image of St. Anthony. In addition to that, 
I am going to give you a copy of the New Testament. 
I am going to mark certain passages, and I want you 
to go apart at least once every day to get all by your- 
self and read one or two of those marked passages and 
then kneel down and lift up your heart to God in 
prayer. Believe that He is your Father and that He 
loves you and takes care of you. Tell Him all your 
cares and griefs ; keep nothing back from Him. You 
can tell Him what you would not dare to tell another. 
Speak to Him with the utmost freedom, for He loves 
you. And then after a time, I want you to come back 
to me and let us talk again/ 

"I never shall forget as long as I live the day she 
returned. Perhaps two months had passed and one 
day after the service she came toward me and said: 
'Now I am ready. In all the years that have passed, 
God my Father has dealt with infinite tenderness to- 
ward me. He knew that I was acting in ignorance. 



INTERPRETATION, MESSAGE, METHOD 79 

I thought that it was because of the candle and the 
prayers that I said before that particular image. Now 
I find that God did not see the candle nor the image. 
But He saw my heart; and yet I find a sweeter com- 
fort in going direct to Him without anything interven- 
ing. If you will have me, I am ready to enter your 
Church/ I dare say that men of different temper- 
ament might deal with a situation of that kind in dif- 
ferent ways; yet, dear friends, it does seem so im- 
portant to show a loving and kind spirit in all our 
public utterances. There will be occasions, of course, 
in private when men come to you and ask their ques- 
tions. Then you speak on these controversial points, 
but I would not bring them up in the midst of a great 
congregation. ... I want to leave this thought in 
your minds. 'The love of Christ constraineth us' in all 
our poor, weak, fluctuating love for Him. By the ad- 
mission of that love, we shall learn in time what has 
been so well called, 'the insuperable power of pure af- 
fection/ " Under the magic spell of that love, the dele- 
gates left the hall. 



IV 

LATIN AMERICANS AND EDUCATION 

The questions of Plato's "Republic," "What then is 
education ? Or is there a better than the old-fashioned 
sort?" were masterfully investigated and lucidly dis- 
cussed for Latin America in the report of Commission 
III on "Education." Its chairman was Professor 
Donald C. MacLaren, former President of Mackenzie 
College, Brazil, easily the foremost missionary insti- 
tution in South America. Upon the Commission were 
notable American educators, like President King of 
Oberlin College, Professor E. D. Burton of the Uni- 
versity of Chicago, Dean Russell of Teachers College 
and his encyclopedic colleague, Professor Paul Monroe, 
besides fifteen missionary and national represen- 
tatives of Latin-American institutions and ten 
other notable authorities. Their printed report 
was not only the most extended one presented to 
the Congress, but it also ranks as the best exposition 
of education, viewed from a missionary standpoint, 
thus far produced for any single great section of the 
mission field. 

In the absence of the chairman, a vice-chairman, 
President King, presented the report and made the 
closing address. In clarity, justness of perspective, 

81 



82 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

wise selection of points of emphasis, manifestation of 
pedagogical acumen and loyalty to the intellectual 
processes as swayed by God, it was surpassed by no 
other presentation of Commission chairmen. As the 
first two objectives of the report were technical and 
intended to be useful and stimulating to the educational 
workers on the field and to missionary secretaries and 
Board officials, mission study class leaders and others 
in the home lands already interested in Latin America, 
this chapter will address itself to the Christian public 
in general whose intelligent interest is desired. 

The delegates would probably agree that President 
King's resume, given at the close of the day, included 
the outstanding impressions made by the report and the 
five hours' discussion of the subject. He named six 
particularly significant facts : ( i ) The enormous illit- 
eracy of Latin America, ranging from forty to eighty 
percent., with great regions wholly unreached by edu- 
cation. (2) Yet in many sections there is a well or- 
ganized system of instruction, from the kindergarten 
to the university. (3) All the missionaries bear wit- 
ness to the strongly marked leadership of the highly 
educated men of Latin America. (4) But according 
to the same testimony, almost unanimously given, 
these men are generally abjuring religion as out-of- 
date. (5) Almost everywhere there is a very inade- 
quate training of the Christian community, especially 
of its leaders, both teachers and preachers. (6) There 
is dire need of industrial and agricultural training at 
certain points for the economic uplift of the people. 



LATIN AMERICANS AND EDUCATION 83 

This demand will be all the more urgent, as we extend 
our ministrations to the Indians whose problems have 
been touched only in a desultory way thus far. With- 
out attempting to enlarge upon these facts seriatim, 
most of them and others not mentioned will be consid- 
ered, omitting the education of women and girls and 
the problems of the national church leadership, which 
are discussed in Chapters VI and VII respectively. 

Details as to illiteracy are quoted by the Commis- 
sion in this paragraph: "In few nations is. illiteracy 
more pronounced. In some countries, such as Ecua- 
dor, it is impossible to arrive at any accurate estimate. 
In such advanced countries as Brazil, some estimates 
reach as high as eighty percent. The best estimates 
are given herewith: Argentina, fifty and five-tenths 
percent, of persons six years of age and older; Bolivia, 
'a large proportion can read'; Brazil, seventy per- 
cent. ; Chile, sixty-three percent. ; Colombia, eighty 
percent. ; Uruguay, forty percent, of persons six years 
of age and older ; Costa Rica, 'large proportion' ; Hon- 
duras, 'high'; Mexico, sixty-three percent, of persons 
over twelve years of age." 

These figures should not be understood as necessa- 
rily indicative of a general apathy as to education. Re- 
member that Latin America's average density of popu- 
lation is less than ten persons per square mile, with 
perhaps three children of school-going age. If town 
and urban populations are subtracted the average per 
square mile would be greatly reduced, so that in many 
rural districts thirty square miles would not provide 



84 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

enough pupils for a single school. In certain sections 
of Argentina, a hundred square miles would not sup- 
ply a sufficient number. Just as in Africa's Protestant 
sub-continent it is practically impossible for British 
and Boers to provide education for their children, so 
it is impracticable for many sections of Latin America 
to support schools, even if the financial obstacle were 
not also prohibitive. Yet it must be confessed that 
Latin Americans are not so eager for education among 
the lower classes as in most civilized countries, even 
outside the Indian and negro half-breeds. 

What are the various governments doing to remedy 
this stigma of illiteracy? As they do not regard it as 
such in any great degree, they are doing very little, 
except in the higher branches of education, and also 
for the upper classes. Their elementary schools are 
the least developed part of the educational system. 
The backward races form so large a percentage of the 
population — in Mexico, for example, three-fourths of 
the total is Indian and one-sixth is mixed Indian blood 
— that little is done for them. The attention given to 
the education of girls in elementary schools is rela- 
tively satisfactory, as the number provided for them 
is about seven-twelfths as great as for boys. Coedu- 
cation, it should be said, is rare after pupils are ten 
years of age. The curriculum as legally set forth 
leaves little to be desired, though what is actually 
taught falls far short of the requirements. As a large 
part of this work in a number of countries is done in 
Roman Catholic schools, subsidized by the state, Chris- 



LATIN AMERICANS AND EDUCATION 85 

tian doctrine and sacred history form part of the ele- 
mentary school curriculum. Unhappily the memoriter 
method is in vogue, and in many schools the catechet- 
ical plan of questions and answers prevails. In too 
many schools it is true, as in Bolivia, that the end 
and aim of teachers and scholars is to prepare for the 
two yearly examinations. In the republic just named, 
a list of questions, containing twice as many as there 
are pupils in the class, is prepared, answers to which 
may be found in the texts used. 

Secondary schools — liceos and colegios — form the 
most important and flourishing part of the Latin- 
American educational system. They are more nearly 
connected with the higher steps in education than with 
the elementary, so that in some states pupils can enter 
them only through private preparatory schools. Being 
under the same government control as the universities, 
they are viewed with favor. Instructors are employed 
to lecture three hours a week, while an administrative 
staff permanently engaged gives some oversight to 
student life and also supervises the instruction. The 
classics are often absent from these state schools, 
but modern languages are studied — English following 
French in popularity and German standing third. The 
six-year course covers part of the work done by col- 
leges in the United States, and in most cases its com- 
pletion is crowned by the degree of B. A., or of Bach- 
elor of Humanities, thus affording direct entrance to 
the national universities. The graduate differs from 
the secondary school alumnus in the United States in 



86 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

his having little or no acquaintance with the classics, 
in his greater knowledge of his national literature, in 
his fuller mastery of modern languages, in his ac- 
quaintance with philosophy, logic, psychology, ethics 
and sociology, and in the amount of time given to his- 
tory, civics, the natural sciences, drawing, geography 
and military exercises. E. E. Brandon, in his mono- 
graph on the Latin- American universities, says : "The 
age of the liceo graduate is about the same as that of 
the American boy when he finishes high school. The 
Latin American is perhaps superior in breadth of 
vision, cosmopolitan sympathy, power of expression 
and argumentative ability, but, on the other hand, per- 
haps inferior in the power of analysis and initiative 
and in the spirit of self-reliance. ,, 

The universities of Latin America, of which there 
were twelve before the year 1800, were in a peculiar 
sense the organs of the Roman Church during the six- 
teenth and seventeenth centuries ; and hence they were 
often the medium for the expression of its views and 
the instruments for the exercise of its power. Their 
principal object was to promote the cause of religion 
and to provide an educated clergy. The university 
thus became an effective instrument for controlling in 
the interests of the Church, not only the social life of 
the people, but also the education given by the state. 
It was a great conservative force and served as one of 
the chief bulwarks of the divine right of government 
through a monarchy. 

With the establishment of independent nationalities 



LATIN AMERICANS AND EDUCATION 87 

early in the last century, the universities were secular- 
ized and passed under the control of the state. This 
was in part a result of French critical thought and the 
skepticism of the period, in part a movement toward 
freedom in religion, and in part a rejection of the 
control of the mother country exercised through 
Church and State. Hence it is that the government 
universities to-day are non-religious; and because of 
the liberal views of the professors, most of the students 
are either opposed to the Church and its mediaeval 
obscurantism, or are apathetic as regards all religion. 

As Latin America has nothing corresponding to the 
American college, it naturally follows that its univer- 
sities should consist of professional schools, prepared 
for in part by students from the six-year course liceos 
or colegios, and in part supplementing this deficiency 
by courses ordinarily given in our colleges. While 
the central place of the arts department is thus usurped 
by the specialty of a given university faculty, its cur- 
riculum is broadened by the inclusion of whatever is 
deemed essential to complete the student's knowledge. 
Thus in both medicine and engineering, there is much 
more comprehensive training in science than with us ; 
yet it is to be noted that this science is taught with the 
concrete social problems of medicine or of engineering 
in view. Law courses especially are very broad and 
require as many years as the combined college and law 
curricula in North America. The breadth of such 
instruction will account for the fact that in some coun- 
tries fully eighty percent, of the graduates of these 



88 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

schools do not enter the legal profession but take the 
studies for their general educative value. 

University student bodies lack the solidarity of 
American students, partly because dormitory life exists 
in only a very few, and also because the different facul- 
ties often occupy buildings remote from each other, 
instead of sharing a common campus. The influence 
of professors upon the students is less marked than in 
America, since most of them simply give lectures as 
additional to their regular professions pursued wholly 
apart from the university. Consequently they have 
little interest in the institution and its student body. 
As there is no permanent teaching staff, except those 
professors imported from Europe, the character-form- 
ing values of American universities are largely absent ; 
and the students lack the restraints of their teachers 
and their fellows in moral and religious matters. 
These institutions are wholly under state control exer- 
cised by the Minister of Education, without any over- 
sight of boards of overseers, or trustees. Any dissat- 
isfaction with the administration can be manifested 
only through student demonstration and agitation. 
This unites them and the graduate body very closely 
and gives university trained men extraordinary influ- 
ence in society, politics and religion. In other words, 
the university spirit or soul is not localized in an insti- 
tution, but in a national group, or a social class. 

Government technical and special schools are mainly 
normal, commercial, agricultural and industrial. Of 
these, normal institutions are most in favor. They 



LATIN AMERICANS AND EDUCATION 89 

may be entered from the elementary schools at the min- 
imum age of fourteen, and are thus of secondary 
grade. In recent years no phase of technical training 
has shown a more marked development than commer- 
cial education. Governments favor it because of in- 
creasing industrial and trade requirements and even 
more in order to lessen the number of educated men 
who as graduates of the universities are active in polit- 
ical agitation. Agricultural schools range from little 
more than experiment stations to the dignity of a de- 
partment of a university, as in Argentina. The in- 
creasing values of food products for export and home 
consumption make them very important to the state. 
Students in the high grade agricultural college are usu- 
ally sons of the landed gentry, while the patronage 
of the secondary schools is mainly drawn from the less 
favored social strata, — the sons of farmers and over- 
seers who are not landholders. Industrial education 
is just now being especially emphasized, due in large 
part to the publication in 19 12 of F. Encinas's book 
on "Our Economic Inferiority. ,, The excellent tech- 
nical school systems of the United States and Germany 
are being closely studied with the expectation of incor- 
porating their methods in the schools now being estab- 
lished. Previously departments of engineering were 
part of the university scheme, and now secondary 
schools of arts and trade are being established with a 
broader and more practical objective, even including 
such trades as tailoring, cobbling and blacksmithing. 
Turning from state education, one finds in the 



90 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

Roman Church's present educational activities very 
little work of high scholastic grade. Historically it 
was almost the sole teacher, from the simple school 
where Indians were taught to read, to Latin America's 
ancient and more recent universities. As the latter in- 
stitutions are now under state control, the Church has 
little interest in them. Besides some participation in 
other universities, it has two of its own, less than thirty 
years old — at Santiago, Chile, and at Buenos Aires. 
The former has faculties of law, mathematics, agricul- 
ture and industry, and engineering. The latter, still in 
its formative period, has schools of law and social 
science. So for the most part, aside from theological 
education, the Church's efforts are directed toward the 
support and supervision of secondary schools. In these 
are to be found most of the boys of the upper classes. 
From them come all the members of the learned pro- 
fessions. Here are trained the men who later domi- 
nate society and direct the state. Consequently the 
control of these schools is the strategic educational 
leverage. 

As for elementary education, it apparently is not 
greatly desired for the common people by the hier- 
archy. Professor Ross writes : "For the children of 
the peons the Church desires no education other than 
that drill in the rudiments of her faith which she her- 
self provides. Secular education will not promote their 
eternal welfare and it may endanger it. That educa- 
tion should give them a chance to rise in life does not 
appeal to her. What is 'rising in life' compared with 




YUCATAN-INDIAN EVANGELIST, MEXICO 
WOMAN COLPORTEUR, CHILE 



LATIN AMERICANS AND EDUCATION 91 

saving the soul ? . . . The priest wants the peons 
ignorant in order that he may preserve his authority 
over them, keep their feet from straying from the path 
of eternal salvation and be relieved of the necessity of 
defending his doctrines, combating heresies and meet- 
ing the competition of the Protestant missionary. If, 
however, education must come, the Church wants to 
provide it herself in her own parish school, where, as 
a clerical editor put it to me, 'religion saturates the 
entire course of study/ " 

The part played by evangelical missions in Latin- 
American education has been an important one, though, 
the Societies have not done a tithe as much as the 
opportunities and needs demand. At the beginning, 
at the close of the first quarter of the last century, 
the Rev. James Thomson, of the British and Foreign 
Bible Society, landed at Buenos Aires and established 
Lancasterian schools. The man and the system were 
very interestingly described at a special session of the 
Congress delegates by Dr. Browning of Chile. It will 
be recalled that these schools adopted the plan of small 
classes under student monitors. The master outlined 
the work of the day to them in a preliminary session, 
and they in turn taught it to the classes. The book 
used for reading was the Bible without notes as pub- 
lished by his Society. Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colom- 
bia, Venezuela and Mexico welcomed and aided his 
schools financially, as did the Church at first through 
its more liberal clergy. The result was that not a few 
leading Latin Americans became liberalized and gladly 



92 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

welcomed the introduction of the gospel. Many states- 
men secured copies of the Bible, studied it and pro- 
fessed to be guided by its teachings. In Mexico, the 
government dispossessed the beautiful convent of Beth- 
lehem, which accommodated a thousand students. The 
schools soon disappeared, probably because of a lack 
of proper teachers, as also because of the persecution 
awakened among the obscurantists by the introduction 
of the Bible. Had these schools of Thomson contin- 
ued, it is probable that the ecclesiastical history of 
South America would have been different, giving, as 
they did, the pure Word of God to the ruling classes. 

Little more was attempted until forty years ago, 
when the Societies did their pioneer work, largely op- 
portunist in character. Thus, if local prejudice was 
against woman's education, secondary schools for 
young men were started; if there was a demand for 
women teachers, as in Mexico, normal schools for 
girls were established. Southern Brazil, Argentina, 
Chile and British Guiana have been the countries 
where evangelical schools have been most successfully 
developed by missionaries. In the country last 
named, the parochial schools of the Wesleyans and 
Church of England enroll more than 17,000 pupils. 
Bolivia supplies the most notable recent example of 
state subsidization of North American mission schools, 
though limitations as to religious instruction will prob- 
ably lead to giving up the aid as soon as sufficient 
missionary funds can be secured. 

A few references to specific work, suggestive of a 



LATIN AMERICANS AND EDUCATION 93 

great mass of similar data, will be given, beginning 
with elementary education. Kindergartens, the 
pioneer of which class may have been Miss Phoebe 
Thomas', established in Sao Paulo in 1882, are 
usually a department of boarding or normal schools. 
They are most successful when conducted by Chris- 
tian Latin-American women trained in the United 
States. Free government kindergartens are leading to 
their discontinuance, a step greatly deprecated by one 
of the delegates. 

The Argentine evangelical schools, established in 
1898 in Buenos Aires by the Rev. C. Morris of the 
South American Missionary Society, are notable in- 
stances of philanthropic schools for poorer children. 
An inspiration has thus been given to the movement, so 
that these schools in that capital enroll five thousand 
six hundred pupils, receive an annual subsidy from 
the government of nearly $93,000 and own buildings 
valued at $192,000, largely secured by popular sub- 
scription. Dr. Speer writes of the schools: "No one 
can see these great throngs of children, orderly, well 
taught, reading the New Testament as one of their 
text-books, inspired with the sense of duty to God 
and to their country, prepared practically for life by 
industrial training, without being uplifted by the 
sight." 

Evangelical parochial schools, developed to some 
extent in Mexico and Chile, but reaching their com- 
pletest form in those under the fostering care of the 
Rev. William A. Waddell, now President of Mackenzie 



94 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

College, are for Protestants and others who desire to 
patronize them. Foreign standards are abandoned; 
their courses in the vernacular are much like those of 
primary grades in the United States, offering the 
irreducible minimum of instruction necessary for every 
citizen and church member. They are carried on 
under the control of ministers or members of churches 
and are supported by the pupils' parents, with the 
exception of the expense of superintendence and 
teacher training. One dollar thus spent calls out from 
five to ten times that amount from local sources. A 
recent development makes them the public schools of 
their villages supported at government expense, but 
with full permission for the teachers to have classes 
in the Sunday school and to visit the families of the 
children. The salaries are thus increased, and the 
influence of evangelical teachers on the community at 
large is multiplied greatly. 

Among elementary schools for Indians, those of the 
South American Missionary Society in the Gran Chaco 
of Paraguay were instanced as unusual. Started in 
1897, the first text-books were in manuscript form, 
and various difficulties were encountered. Mr. W. B. 
Grubb in his "Church in the Wilds," pages 187-193, 
gives an interesting account of the work, from the 
learning of nicknamed letters to the instruction of 
industrial classes. The results he thus summarizes : 
"Year by year the children pass out of the school, 
educated for their life's work, instructed in the way 
of righteousness, and prepared to take up some trade 



LATIN AMERICANS AND EDUCATION 95 

and to learn some of the hard lessons of life. These 
are ignorant of the dark past of their parents and are 
surrounded from infancy with the light of truth. We 
look to them, therefore, as the heralds of the gospel 
to the regions beyond." 

As among Romanists, evangelical missionaries re- 
gard the secondary school — liceo, gymnasio, institute, 
or colegio, as it may be called — as the most important 
feature of their educational program. All their board- 
ing schools of any importance are of this type, usually 
with an elementary school in connection with them. 
Coeducational schools of this grade are seldom 
favored. The Methodist Normal School for Girls at 
Saltillo, Mexico, with a total matriculation of two 
hundred and twenty-five, is a useful institution 
which is partly subsidized by the state. It not 
only trains evangelical teachers for church schools, 
but the graduates are also in great demand for public 
school positions. The Methodist institution at Uru- 
guayana, Brazil, with an enrolment of one hundred 
and sixty, carries boys through high school and pre- 
pares them for entering Mackenzie College. Religious 
instruction is not compulsory, but most of the students 
attend the local evangelical church and the Christian 
Endeavor meetings. Commercial and industrial 
schools are too few, but those reported show the value 
of bringing young people, fitting themselves prac- 
tically for life, under strong religious influences and 
instruction. Farming and gardening, iron and wood 
working, weaving and general manual training are 



96 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

taught. The efficient biblical and practical instruction 
imparted will do much toward solving vexed problems 
of the church. The religious life of secondary schools 
is aided through curriculum Bible study, except in 
state subsidized institutions, and through voluntary 
groups and societies, like Christian Endeavor and the 
Student Christian Association. Opinions are divided 
as to the advisability of making Bible study compul- 
sory, though all agree that it should be competent. 
As religious instruction is compulsory in Catholic 
schools, required study is usually the policy. Some 
societies stipulate that the majority of secondary 
school students must be from evangelical families in 
order to secure the right atmosphere. 

There is no regular college of North American 
grade and character in Latin lands. Yet there are a 
number of institutions above high school grade. 
Among them the most prominent are the Baptist Col- 
lege at Rio de Janeiro, the Instituto Evangelico at 
Lavras, Brazil, Granberry College of the Southern 
Methodists in the same republic, and the outstanding 
institution for higher learning among Protestants of 
South America, Mackenzie College at Sao Paulo. 
Originally Presbyterian, it is now non-sectarian, but 
with all the leading denominations represented in its 
large international faculty. Technological instruction 
is far more prominent than are the courses usual to 
arts departments in North America. Of its 366 
students, twenty-seven are young women. In its 
affiliated Eschola Americana, located a mile away, 



LATIN AMERICANS AND EDUCATION 97 

there is an enrolment of 506 pupils of whom 124 are 
girls. The race composition of its student body ap- 
pears in these figures: Brazilians, 514; Italians, 150; 
Portuguese, 47; Germans, 45; North Americans, 34; 
English, 28; French, 15; other nationalities, 39 — the 
two institutions being united in these figures. As a 
whole, the college is practically self-supporting from 
tuitions. The state and national educational officials 
are deeply interested in Mackenzie. Through their 
influence, free excursions have been run from other 
institutions to bring the students together for various 
intercollegiate events. It is setting the pace for 
higher education of the modern type in Brazil. The 
large influence of the college and of its lamented head, 
President H. M. Lane, LL.D., was publicly acknowl- 
edged, both in the Legislature and Senate at the time 
of his death in 19 12. Another type of work of uni- 
versity rank is that done by Dr. Lester and the Rev. 
J. H. McLean at the University of Chile, where they 
have lectured during the last four years. Texts selected 
include poetry, essays and works of fiction permeated 
with Christian doctrine. Confidence and friendship 
are thus established in a republic where respect for a 
good instructor amounts almost to veneration. 

The Commission reported that the best theological 
institutions were in Brazil, though the Presbyterian 
Seminary at Coyoacan, Mexico, was drawing its 
students before the revolution from Mexico, Central 
America and the West Indies. Many so-called theo- 
logical schools are groups of from three to twelve 



98 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

students taught by missionaries in connection with 
other heavy duties, the students often being immature, 
or engaged in work as evangelists or colporteurs. The 
union institution of the Northern and Southern Pres- 
byterians at Campinas, Brazil, whose faculty was so 
admirably represented in the Panama Congress by 
Professor Braga, is probably the best developed of its 
kind in South America. The newly founded Union 
Seminary of Santiago, Chile, is shared by the Presby- 
terian and Methodist Missions who unite on the 
creedal basis of the Evangelical Alliance. That capi- 
tal is fortunate in having six men who are well fitted 
for such teaching. Another earlier union effort is the 
seminary at Mayaguez, Porto Rico, where Presby- 
terians and United Brethren combine for theological 
instruction, with a faculty of five professors and in- 
structors. Yet, as will be seen in a later chapter, the 
theological education of Latin America is lamentably 
deficient as a whole, partly because strong Christian 
men of university training do not offer themselves, 
and partly for the reason that the theological schools 
are weak financially and are ineffectively manned. 

Of popular educational movements, evangelical in 
character, the varied work of the Young Men's and 
Young Women's Christian Associations, the latter 
still in its early stages, is the most acceptable and 
efficient. Here also belongs the fine program of the 
People's Central Institute in Rio and of the People's 
Institute at Piedras Negras, already mentioned. A 
wide range of testimony emphasizes the importance 



LATIN AMERICANS AND EDUCATION 99 

and attractiveness of athletics and physical instruction 
in this popular form of educational activity. 

The religious education imparted through Sunday- 
schools is peculiarly important in lands where the 
Bible is not popularly known. Yet the investigations 
of the Commission showed that the prerequisites of 
successful work were largely wanting. In all Latin 
America only three Sunday schools meet in buildings 
especially designed for them, two in Buenos Aires and 
the third at Bello Horizonto, Brazil. Of the fourteen 
theological schools reported, seven teach something of 
pedagogy, psychology and Sunday-school manage- 
ment. One has a course on methods of teaching and 
two require study of a first-standard teacher-training 
course. Two correspondents report the training of 
superintendents by correspondence, seven by reading 
courses and five by summer schools or other schools 
of methods. The only countries showing any system- 
atic effort to train teachers are Cuba, Mexico and 
Brazil. The 191 5 tour of workers from North Amer- 
ica, headed by Mr. Frank L. Brown, General Secre- 
tary of the World's Sunday School Association, has 
greatly stimulated the interest in forward movements 
in these schools. Mr. Brown writes : "The line of 
easiest and largest advance in South America will be 
through the Sunday school and Christian educational 
institutions. There is practically free opportunity for 
Sunday schools in all parts of South America. That 
so much progress has been made when the literature 
helps have been so meager, when teachers have been 



ioo RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

untrained, when there has been so little to attract 
scholars in the line of special expedients, speaks hope- 
fully for the future when these conditions shall be 
corrected." 

Extremely valuable sections of the report upon the 
aims, methods and problems of evangelical education 
and upon the judgments and conclusions arrived at by 
the Commission are too technical and extended even 
to summarize. The discussion by the delegates 
brought out many facts bearing upon those problems 
and ideals. A few of these follow — extracts from 
fuller statements. 

President King: "I suppose that what the Chris- 
tian school is attempting is ... to gather 
in as teachers those who have what I call the char- 
acter-begetting power. Now all good men and 
women do not have it — certainly not in the same de- 
gree. It is above all desirable that in your educa- 
tional centers there should be those who have this 
contagion, who have this character-begetting power; 
and the success of the school as a Christian agency 
will be measured largely by the degree in which you 
get your spirit into the pupils who are sent out from 
it, who have in their turn this character-begetting 
power." 

The Rev. John Howland, D.D., Mexico : "The Latin 
American, with his quickness of perception, his acute- 
ness of analysis, his high flights of imagination, has 
many qualities that make us humble and anxious to 
sit at his feet and learn of him, rather than to attempt 



LATIN AMERICANS AND EDUCATION 101 

to teach him; but there are some other qualities that 
need to be awakened in him. In the whole Latin lan- 
guage we can find no word that will translate that 
word that means so much for the Anglo-Saxon races 
and for the history of the world." Then followed a 
plea for imparting a stronger conception of the will, 
with the habitual use of it in its higher practical and 
ethical relations. 

Dr. Edwin G. Dexter, rector of the Instituto 
Nacional, Panama, in illustrating the need of common- 
sense and the superiority of Latin-American teachers 
in the lower grades, told this story of an American 
college graduate whose school in Porto Rico lost most 
of its scholars. On examining into the matter, it was 
discovered that one of the scholars was absenting him- 
self from school with the excuse that he had no shoes 
to wear. The teacher, with an eye for powerful 
object-lessons, appeared in the schoolroom the next 
morning barefoot. The children, though much sur- 
prised, remained through the morning session, but 
only about one-half were present in the afternoon. 
The next day only a quarter of the children were at 
school. Their reason for staying away was that the 
teacher must be a peon to go barefoot, and they re- 
fused to be taught by a peon. 

The Rev. Alvaro Reis, the eminent Presbyterian 
leader of Brazil, testified to the high value of the in- 
struction imparted by evangelical institutions in which 
he received his education. He spoke of the emphasis 
placed by Jesuit teachers upon religious education, 



102 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

often harmful because of its insistence upon image 
worship, and urged that the open Bible should be the 
book on the student's desk, not only to be studied, but 
also to be incarnated in his daily life. 

The Rev. J. O. Gonzales of Cuba, in discussing the 
question as to how Christian influence may be most 
effective in government institutions, advocated the 
Christian Association plan of supplying hostels, to 
which he would send missionaries competent to reach 
students of the modern type. He would pursue the 
opposite course from the Jesuit's system of ignoring 
modernity, or of opposing it, saying: "Let the 
students hear what an unbeliever has to say ; but at the 
same time put by his side some good, learned man 
prepared to answer questions that may arise in their 
minds. In that way you may hold them. Otherwise, 
they will laugh at you, because they will see that you 
do not know what men of science have said." He 
spoke out of seventeen years' experience in educational 
work among Roman Catholics. 

Apropos to this subject, which was frequently 
alluded to in connection with what the Commission 
had said of intellectual freedom in its report, another 
statement of President King, made in his closing ad- 
dress for the Commission, may be quoted. "If ever 
we are to reach these intellectual leaders, we must use 
the modern approach ; and will you bear a very faith- 
ful word on that subject. I came back sick at heart 
from the Orient, partly because I found in India and 
Japan many excellent and godly missionaries who 



LATIN AMERICANS AND EDUCATION 103 

were standing square across the path of educated 
Hindus, Japanese and Chinese. They were saying 
virtually, 'You cannot have anything to do with evolu- 
tion and historical criticism and be a Christian/ Well, 
a great German said years ago, 'The wounds of 
knowledge can be healed only by knowledge/ and we 
must make the approach to these men with a little 
different conception of the relation of religion to the 
modern and intellectual world. I do not know any- 
thing in the intellectual realm that forbids a man's 
being in the deepest and most real sense of the word 
an honest and consistent follower of Jesus Christ/' 
His full statement, of which this is but a part, was 
later referred to in vehement criticism by Dr. John 
Fox of New York, and variously by others. One 
Latin-American woman delegate warmly approved Dr. 
King's position and testified to its personal value in 
her own experience. Apparently he would be gladly 
welcomed by Latin intellectuals as an apologetic and 
constructive speaker, if he could be induced to make 
a tour of Latin America, as some of the delegates 
hope he may be induced to do. This would be in 
fulfilment of the purpose of one of the findings of 
the report. "The Commission is of the opinion that 
great good might be accomplished by the establish- 
ment, in Europe or the United States, of endowed 
lectureships, the lecturers to deal with the great ques- 
tions of religion and philosophy from a scholarly point 
of view, and the lectures to be delivered in the prin- 
cipal cities of Latin America/' 



104 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

The Rev. C. E. Bixler of Brazil urged the importance 
of agricultural education in mission schools. In that 
republic most of the cultivation is done with the hoe, 
without a knowledge oftentimes even of plows. Self- 
supporting churches in rural communities would be 
possible, if such education were available and effec- 
tive. "We must not only introduce farm machinery, 
but we must also teach how to use it. We should plan 
to have a course in agriculture in the central schools 
that now exist and those to be established in the 
future. We can do much to prepare people for self- 
support in this way, because one man with a machine 
can do the work of five or ten working with the hoe; 
and if we can increase their production with little 
cost, they can have something to give." He had 
previously stated that the success of the gospel had 
been greatest among a middle class who had land 
enough, but who could not ordinarily cultivate more 
than four acres because of the prevalent hoe culture. 
This was insufficient to provide anything more than 
the food and clothing of a large family, leaving noth- 
ing for supporting the church. 

The Rev. W. E. Browning, Ph.D., of Chile regarded 
the following as the greatest weaknesses of educa- 
tional work from the point of view of religious results. 
The missionary is too timid in dealing with his 
students, especially in teaching the Bible. In Chile 
there is too little permanency in the faculty, with many 
short term and contract teachers, who remain so brief 
a time that they do not learn the language well 



LATIN AMERICANS AND EDUCATION 105 

enough to be a religious help to their students and to 
make the cumulative influence of Christian friendship 
tell. Incompetence due to sending the best candidates 
to the Far East and supplying Latin America with 
the dubious remnants is another cause — men like this 
one recommended to him by a distinguished educator 
to whom he had applied for a teacher : "Our men go 
to China. There is only one man who might go to 
you. He is rather uncouth and awkward. He re- 
minds me of a great, awkward Newfoundland pup, 
but I think he would just fit into your work." Dr. 
Browning well addsj "Of what help would that man 
be in meeting the atheism and Catholicism and all the 
problems we have on our field?" Equipment is an- 
other handicap in every way. One of the Chilean 
universities is spending $19,200,000 in its upbuilding, 
while mission schools are without proper staff for 
doing effective religious teaching. Cooperation 
among the churches would aid in follow-up work 
after graduation, when students go home away from 
their own church and soon revert to their old religious 
status because of lack of Christian nurture. 

Professor Erasmo Braga of the Campinas Theologi- 
cal Seminary, Brazil, regarded the following as cor- 
rectives of the weaknesses of theological training in 
South America. A proper point of view in their estab- 
lishment; correlation between the seminaries and the 
national system of education in order to secure well- 
prepared candidates; a correction of the present 
method of recruiting for these institutions, so that 



106 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

men whose qualifications are merely early piety and 
education in mission schools are not necessarily to be 
received into the seminaries; discouraging induction 
into the ministry of short-cut students without a 
thorough secondary and college training; reduction of 
the number of so-called seminaries and their combina- 
tion into single union institutions; and higher stand- 
ards for the training of theological students, before 
and after entering the seminaries. 

The Rev. J. F. Goucher, D.D., of Baltimore, argued 
for interdenominational cooperation in order to secure 
efficiency and the financial support for great union in- 
stitutions. When Latin-American governments are 
providing budgets of over $300,000 annually for 
single universities, it is futile for any one denomina- 
tion to insist on establishing or supporting feeble in- 
stitutions of no great influence when by combination 
several societies could have one strong college or uni- 
versity, which might call for a capital of twenty mil- 
lions. The Rev. W. H. Rainey of Peru seconded Dr. 
Goucher's suggestion, though he would have one great 
Christian university for all Latin America. It would 
need to be interdenominational for a higher than a 
financial reason, the exemplification of unity as 
superior to denominationalism. Dr. King pleaded for 
three strong Christian universities, when speaking for 
the Commission. In general the great educational lack 
of Latin America is that of higher education for 
Christian leadership, so that medical men, for instance, 
shall not far surpass in technical fitness those who 



LATIN AMERICANS AND EDUCATION io;r 

have the higher task of the cure of souls and the up- 
building of the living Church of God. 

Two facts that particularly impressed Lord Bryce 
during his travels in South America generalize the real 
problems of Missions in Latin America. "If one re- 
gards these various nations as a whole," he writes, 
"one is struck by the want of such an 'atmosphere of 
ideas/ if the phrase is permissible, as that which men 
breathe in western Europe and in North America. 
Educated men are few, books are few, there is little 
stir of thought, little play of cultivated intelligence 
upon the problems of modern society. Most of these 
countries seem to lie far away from the stream of 
intellectual life, hearing only its distant murmur. The 
presence of a great inert mass of ignorance in the 
native population partly accounts for this; and one 
must remember the difficulty of providing schools and 
the thinness of the population scattered through moun- 
tainous or forest-covered regions. . . . Another 
fact strikes the traveler with surprise. Both the in- 
tellectual life and the ethical standards of conduct of 
these countries seem to be entirely divorced from re- 
ligion. The women are almost universally 'practicing' 
Catholics, and so are the peasantry, though the Chris- 
tianity of the Indians bears only a distant resemblance 
to that of Europe. But men of the upper or educated* 
class appear wholly indifferent to theology and Chris- 
tian worship. It has no interest for them . . . 
and may be left to women and peasants. The Catholic 
revival or reaction of the first half of the nineteenth 



io8 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

century did not touch Spanish America, which is still 
under the influence of the anti-Catholic current of the 
later eighteenth." 

To bring to these republics the intelligence without 
which democratic institutions cannot reach their ideals, 
to impart to the nascent evangelical communities the 
Christian knowledge and training indispensable for 
their development and proper leadership, to win the 
intellectuals to allegiance to Him who is not only the 
Truth but also the Life, is a task which will prove 
also to be Kingdom-making and will exalt its King. 



LEAVES FOR THE HEALING OF NATIONS 

Literature, which is the subject investigated and 
discussed by Commission IV, may be regarded as the 
corollary of education, — "a proposition following so 
obviously from another that it requires little or no 
demonstration," as a mathematician would say. For 
how can they read who have no books? Or how can 
the evangelical Church be built up without the aid of 
a varied and plenteous supply of printed material 
adapted to its multitudinous needs? If one may be 
pardoned for a further metaphor, how can an aggres- 
sive campaign against ignorance and misinformation 
be carried on without ammunition? a figure used 
effectively by Secretary Swift of the American Tract 
Society, who reminded the Congress that missions in 
Latin America had reached the munitions stage. 

As its value may be questioned in lands of Iberian 
culture, a quotation from Dr. Ritson, Secretary of the 
British and Foreign Bible Society and a vice-chairman 
of the Commission, will supply the argument for em- 
phasizing it in Latin America, as well as in other coun- 
tries similarly conditioned concerning which he 
primarily wrote: "Whatever be the means adopted 
for the evangelization and Christianization of the 

109 



no RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

human race, Christian literature is a factor to be 
reckoned with. One of the most urgent requirements 
of the Church in the mission field is a native ministry 
with spiritual fitness and intellectual equipment for 
leadership. In many lands we have done little more 
than place the Bible in the hands of evangelists and 
teachers and pastors in their mother tongue. That is 
the first and supreme gift, but it is our duty to give 
more. The men upon whom devolves leadership in 
the indigenous Church are dealing with spiritual 
truths that are new to them and have not been trained 
to think. Is it right to leave them to begin de novo? 
In the historic Church there has been a progressive 
interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, and it is our 
duty to give the missionary Church the benefit of that 
Christian scholarship which has been ripening, and of 
that wealth of Christian experience which has been 
accumulating through the centuries. By providing a 
Christian literature ... we may share with it 
those blessings which we ourselves have secured only 
through blood and tears. 

"But the training for the ministry is only one aspect 
of the case. Almost every missionary Society has its 
educational policy, and is spending tens of thousands 
of pounds on schools and colleges, and is devoting the 
lives of many of its best and ablest servants to the 
task of teaching. . . . Our students must read. 
They find ready at hand a vast amount of materialis- 
tic and poisonous literature turned out from publishing 
houses, . . . and unless we provide something 



LEAVES FOR THE HEALING OF NATIONS in 

better they will read that which will undermine their 
spiritual and moral life and ruin them body and soul. 
Has a missionary Society which takes no responsibility 
in providing healthy Christian literature any right to 
educate ? 

"Again, the power of the printed page as an evan- 
gelist . . . has not yet been realized. It is 
obvious that it is not a substitute for the missionary. 
The personal factor, the living voice, can never be re- 
placed and has an influence all its own. But the 
printed page has some advantages : it can be read and 
re-read and pondered over ; it can reach a vastly larger 
congregation than is to be found within the walls 
of the sanctuary ; it can accompany the hospital patient 
to his home ... ; it can travel forth as a pioneer 
where the climate is deadly and the population is 
sparse and conditions are unfriendly and hostile. The 
printed page alone is the ubiquitous missionary. In 
evangelizing by means of literature we are following- 
the Great Exemplar, who chose as the medium of 
revelation a Book as well as a Church. " 

It was most fitting that this particular Commission 
should have had as its Chairman Professor Andres 
Osuna, a Latin American of such distinguished ability, 
not only as a literary man but also as an educator, 
that the Mexicans had just chosen him as Commis- 
sioner of Education of the Federal District. While 
this prevented his being present at Panama, he was 
happily substituted for by Dr. Winton, whose work in 
literary lines, both as a Mexican missionary and as 



ii2 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

an editor of his own Church, the Methodist Episcopal, 
South, made his presentations authoritative. Only one 
session was devoted to the theme. 

Evangelical missions center their work about the 
Bible, which has been a closed volume to the masses 
of the Roman Church; hence it was made prominent 
in the Commission's report. Of the Protestant ver- 
sions that of Cipriano de Valera, a converted Roman 
Catholic monk who escaped to England where he mar- 
ried an English lady and gained his degree at Cam- 
bridge, is in Spanish literature what King James's is 
to the English versions. It is a revision of the Bible 
translated by Cassiodoro de Reina, a Spanish reformer 
of the sixteenth century. Valera spent the last twenty 
years of his life upon the work, publishing it in 1596, 
fifteen years before our Authorized Version appeared. 
Delgado de Vargas, a special delegate to the Congress 
from Spain, cited Father Scio's estimate, found in the 
introduction to his Vulgate version, who asserted that 
it was one of the purest and best productions of 
Spanish literature. Sefior de Vargas added that 
Valera's translation in Spain is regarded as the best 
example of classical Spanish after Cervantes' "Don 
Quixote." For some years a company of English, 
American, Mexican and Spanish scholars have been at 
work in Madrid preparing a version that will be a via 
media between the literal interpretation of the accepted 
texts, which by their ruggedness grip the conscience 
and stimulate spiritual meditation, and a rendition into 
pure literary Spanish, enabled by its inherent charms 



LEAVES FOR THE HEALING OF NATIONS 113 

to win an affectionate reading by lovers of Castilian. 
The revisers have just completed the New Testament. 

Joao Ferreira d' Almeida, who began as a boy of 
fifteen to translate the Scriptures and who was con- 
verted from Catholicism, was the first person to com- 
plete the entire translation of the Portuguese New 
Testament from the originals. His death in 1691 
prevented his completing the Old Testament, but 
other scholars finished it in 1753. It was followed in 
1781-83 by a Roman Catholic Portuguese version of 
the Vulgate, with occasional use of the Greek text, 
which was published in twenty-three volumes. Prot- 
estant missionaries in Brazil have been working for 
more than a decade upon a new version, of which the 
New Testament has already been published and the 
Old Testament is nearing completion. 

The Romanists have published versions of the Vul- 
gate in Spain and also in Mexico. The best ones ap- 
pear in from nineteen to twenty-five volumes, and the 
cost is prohibitive even to some priests. Brazilian 
ecclesiastics have formed an organization known as 
the Jerome Society which has recently issued the 
Gospel in Portuguese. This has been a by-product, 
apparently, of evangelical missions. Dr. Tucker of 
Rio de Janeiro told the delegates of a Roman Catholic 
Congress in Brazil some time ago which discussed 
the question, "What shall we do in the face of the 
Protestant propaganda of the Bible ?" and answered it 
by the decision to go into the work of translating. 
In Sarmiento's translation of Carriere's French para- 



ii4 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

phrase of the Book of Acts, the Cardinal Archbishop 
of Rio explains by way of preface : "At the moment 
in which we write these words of approval and apology 
of the work of popularizing the reading of the Holy 
Gospels, we judge it convenient to make it very clear 
that this our attitude can never be confounded with the 
propaganda that our separated brethren, the Protes- 
tants, are actively making." Later he says : "We 
trust the future clergy may be trained in this school, 
that our seminary students may know this treasure 
and may familiarize themselves with this divine Book, 
that every one of them may possess a copy of the 
Holy Gospels." It is a privilege to have awakened 
in part this interest in the Scriptures, thus aiding the 
Romanists toward the accomplishment of a main pur- 
pose of Latin-American missionary enterprise. 

Other literature required for promoting the evan- 
gelical cause is varied, but one primary necessity is for 
commentaries and other works making the purpose, 
meaning and contents of the Bible clear. One of the 
two grounds of objection by Romanists to the intro- 
duction of the Bible into Latin America is that 
ignorant people ought not to be trusted with the 
Scriptures in the vernacular. Hence the new versions 
of their own are accompanied with annotations to 
prevent erroneous beliefs from being derived from 
them. Surely commentaries are now all the more 
desirable that readers may know how devout scholars 
and divines of evangelical Churches understand the 
sacred texts. Such explanatory books will be to read- 



LEAVES FOR THE HEALING OF NATIONS 115 

ers what the Gospels and the colporteurs are to the 
common people, "introductions to Jesus Christ," which 
others than the little Bolivian girl so long for. Mr. 
Stark of the British and Foreign Bible Society told 
how this child came early one morning to a colpor- 
teur's room pleading with him in these words: "O, 
sir, will you give me an introduction to Jesus Christ? 
I am so often hungry and cold, and my mother is 
cruel, and I have none to love me." 

Such introductory literature will serve another pur- 
pose also. Sefiorita Palacios of Mexico City indicated 
to the Congress its value through this illustration: "I 
was talking with the president of the University of 
Puebla about the Word of God, and he said: 'Don't 
you know the Bible is a book that I would never put 
in the hands of my daughters ?' I thought he would go 
on to speak about the historical difficulties; but when 
I asked, 'Why do you say that ?' he said : 'You know 
the Psalms are very immoral; they teach vengeance, 
and I do not put them in the hands of my daughters.' 
Now you see that the Old Testament cannot be under- 
stood as we understand it, unless there has been some 
preparation for the use of it. Therefore we should 
not put Old Testament stories into the hands of per- 
sons who have not had that preparation." Sefior 
Elphick of Chile also warned workers against using 
the Old Testament without a New Testament prep- 
aration, as it proves too often a stumbling-block. The 
story of Jesus should be the beginning of instruction, 
and it should be made attractive by beautiful pictures. 



n6 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

For thoughtful readers, especially students, Dr. Teeter, 
of Chile, advised such books as President King's 
"Ethics of Jesus," which should be translated among 
the first of this class. 

The Commission reported that the present list of 
usable literature was limited, though its second Ap- 
pendix gave figures which showed that some hundreds 
of books and tracts have been published in the last 
ten years. Biographies were almost wholly lacking, 
according to Mr. Ewing of Buenos Aires. Periodicals 
are too numerous and too weak to command respect, 
with rare exceptions. If Societies would combine and 
publish union periodicals, with denominational supple- 
ments when desirable, much more would be accom- 
plished for the cause. Miss Clementina Butler out- 
lined a scheme of such cooperation, which, supple- 
mented by subventions for a few years, would prob- 
ably provide a syndicated periodical that would be 
both popular and helpful, though without a denomina- 
tional or even a Protestant name. 

The Commission, and delegates also, described the 
sort of literature that was especially desirable in Latin 
America. Negatively, Mr. Revell suggested that books 
of sermons were not listed among "the six best sellers" 
in North America, but that they seemed to be char- 
acteristic of Latin-American evangelical literature. Dr. 
Howland deprecated as a "pernicious thing," "homi- 
letical-review-ready-made sermons or outlines," which 
tend to laziness and dishonesty. Dr. Teeter objected 
to books that were denominational when intended for 



LEAVES FOR THE HEALING OF NATIONS 117 

general use, instancing a volume which he, a Meth- 
odist, was using for an interdenominational group and 
which contained a chapter pointing out the errors 
of Presbyterians, several of whom were members of 
the class. He also deprecated the translation and pub- 
lication of books discussing problems of a century 
ago. A number disapproved of certain publications 
which were controversial to the point of bitterness. 
Literature written in faulty Spanish or Portuguese was 
especially criticised, the Rev. A. Trevifio advising mis- 
sionaries not to write Spanish half in English. Even 
more harmful than defects in language and style is 
pettiness in thought, which the Commission asserted 
helped to breed skepticism. 

Looking at the question from a positive viewpoint, 
literature of Latin- American rather than of European 
and 'North American authorship was required. Iberian 
peoples dislike the plain and unpretentious use of their 
native tongues. But more subtle than the charm of 
their own mellifluous utterance is the ministry to the 
temperament and spirit of races of Latin lineage in a 
manner that will satisfy their peculiarities and pre- 
dispositions, a service that none can perform so well 
as members of those races. As a correspondent of 
the Commission truly says : "Much of our literature 
is of little value for initial propaganda, as it depends 
for its appeal so wholly on acceptance of biblical 
authority. Our whole evangelical scheme, as we have 
been presenting it, is too much a logical argument 
from premises which are unacceptable to those who 



n8 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

hear or read." A Spanish or Portuguese writer would 
not be likely to err in such particulars. He would 
avoid the unadorned and homely style of missionary 
authors which is an acknowledged cause of empty 
evangelical churches and of ineffective tracts and 
books, and which prevents those of real merit from 
gaining a reading. 

If Latin- American authorship is to be the policy in 
producing evangelical literature in the future, we 
must face the problem of securing competent national 
writers within the evangelical Churches of Latin 
America. Many leading Christians are not qualified 
for such work, and the few who are possessed of the 
requisite literary gifts are so heavily burdened already 
that they cannot take on additional tasks. It is mani- 
festly desirable to train some of the younger Latins 
for such writing. It was proposed that promising 
young men be given the requisite opportunity for 
perfecting their gifts and thus be enabled to prepare 
literature. Dr. Mott suggested the desirability of fol- 
lowing some such plan as Japan has recently adopted. 
One of the finest minds of that Empire has been set 
apart to prepare a life of Jesus Christ which shall be 
a Japanese interpretation of the Master. He is now in 
Oxford University, studying under Dr. Sanday. With 
a Japanese heart and superb abilities as a writer in his 
own language, he will emerge from his British isola- 
tion and profound studies to produce an interpreta- 
tion that will do much to win Japan to Jesus. But 
where this is impossible, Bishop Colmore's advice was 



LEAVES FOR THE HEALING OF NATIONS 119 

to give men of literary promise a broad education, 
preferably in England or the United States, and after 
thus filling them with great ideas upon important sub- 
jects, ask them to write out of their very selves, with 
all the powers of a Spanish or Portuguese literary 
man, some vital message to their own people. There 
was a general feeling that if translations for a time 
must be depended upon, they should be something 
more than "transliterations from English into 
Spanish," to quote the Bishop's words. 

For men thus prepared either for translating or 
for original work, a variety of books and leaflets is 
waiting to be written. While controversy is to be 
avoided when possible, it must not be left unprovided 
for. Writers in this department should be wholly 
conversant with the viewpoint and teachings of 
Roman Catholic authorities, as too many missionary 
authors are not. The Roman system of today is the 
carefully thought out product of many of the greatest 
intellects of the past, and hence cannot be met with- 
out full preparation. In this realm the primary aim 
should be to establish the truth and only secondarily 
to combat error. 

Books for Christian nurture are needed. The two 
antipodal types of men to be ministered unto are the 
intelligent, educated thinkers who are being drawn 
into a barren and lifeless materialism, and those who 
tend toward crass superstition. The latter class is 
not wholly made up of ignorant people of little learn- 
ing. Many educated men are the prey of Spiritism 



120 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

and kindred delusions, a reaction against the unsatis- 
fying materialistic philosophy so prevalent in Latin 
America. Books on the following subjects clamor 
to be written: "The Message of Evangelical Chris- 
tianity," "The Essentials of Religion as Found in the 
Bible," "Helps to the Devotional Reading of the 
Bible," "The Nature of Church Authority" and 
"Helps to Character Building." 

General literature is lacking in clean, high-class 
novels and other popular books, greatly needed to 
counteract the baneful influence of objectionable and 
even pornographic literature. A number of whole- 
some short stories have been translated already into 
Spanish and are favorably received. Books for boys 
and still others for girls are a desideratum also. 

The Commission's report emphasizes the need for a 
far better hymnology than the evangelical Church now 
possesses. It is deplorably weak in this realm which 
so appeals to music-loving Latin America. Dr. Win- 
ton, in his closing address, explained the technical 
weakness of our present hymnology and pleaded for 
indigenous hymns and for a music that can be wedded 
happily to the words. When the union hymn-book 
so much desired is thus prepared, the Church will 
advance on the wings of song. 

Tracts and leaflets which are so discounted in the 
United States have their use and are appreciated in 
Latin America. In most of its republics reading mat- 
ter is still scarce, and well edited leaflets and bright 
tracts are at a premium, especially when well illus- 



LEAVES FOR THE HEALING OF NATIONS 121 

trated. As a great majority of the people are ignorant 
of the simplest gospel truths, these tracts should meet 
that need sympathetically and fairly. When the in- 
spiration for writing it springs from actual experiences 
of a vital sort, the tract is far more likely to be 
vigorous, well-timed and effective than when it is writ- 
ten in cold blood in recognition of a general need. 
Atheism, Mormonism and Spiritism call for special 
tracts and leaflets. 

Sunday-school literature was wisely emphasized. 
The chairman of the Commission, realizing the need 
of his countrymen, has been instrumental in preparing 
graded lessons that promise to meet the demands of 
the new religious education. The Presbyterians, 
Methodists and Disciples of Mexico have cooperated 
in publishing graded lessons for children under thir- 
teen. Manuals for teachers will also be published 
cooperatively. There is already on foot a plan for 
similar publications in Portuguese. 

In the Congress session the agents so indispensable 
for bringing evangelical literature into the homes and 
lives of the people were eulogized. The Rev. W. H. 
Rainey, the Peruvian representative of the British and 
Foreign Bible Society, is one such eulogist. "The 
colporteur," he said, "is not simply a book-hawker, not 
simply a commercial agent. If he were, it would not 
be dishonorable. But he goes as a pioneer evangelist, 
a scout of the great militant Church of Jesus Christ. 
. . . Colporteurs cooperate with the missionary. 
They go to a town and visit every house. They find 



122 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

those who are interested and give a list of the names 
to the nearest pastor. Sometimes they call the people 
together and preach to them, so that when the pastor 
comes, he finds the church waiting for him to organ- 
ize. . . . He must work alone a great deal of 
the time ; he must travel the dusty roads in the broiling 
sun; he must climb the mountains; he must go down 
the river in boats, tormented by mosquitoes; he bears 
the burden and the heat of the day that your way 
may be made more easy. Therefore we appeal to you, 
especially you native pastors, to recognize the col- 
porteur's work as true evangelical work and the col- 
porteur himself as a true and sincere evangelist and 
missionary.'* 

This Commission's report, even more than those pre- 
ceding it, reiterated again and again the vast oppor- 
tunities and the urgent need for cooperation, if the 
evangelical cause is to avail itself of the best talent 
and is to receive the financial support demanded in 
order to make literature the powerful, saving factor 
that God intends it to become. At least nine Boards 
or Societies are now preparing and publishing litera- 
ture for Latin America, with much waste of money 
and force. When the plan outlined by Commission 
IV in its Appendix C materializes, or something even 
better, efficiency and unity will be the gainers and the 
leaves of healing will bless still more the life of Latin- 
American nations. 




CHILDREN WHO NEED A SUNDAY SCHOOL 
SUNDAY SCHOOL, BRAZIL 



VI 
THE UPBUILDING OF WOMANHOOD 

A new thing under the missionary sun was the ap^ 
pointment of Commission V on * 'Women's Work," 
with the same powers and standing as the other seven 
commissions. This differentiates the Panama Con 7 
gress from all other formal international conferences 
of note, although in smaller gatherings of missionaries 
the women had been represented and had borne an 
honored and helpful part. Being without precedents, 
Miss Belle H. Bennett and Mrs. Ida W. Harrison, 
LL.D., the Commission's chairman and vice-chairman, 
led on their company of twenty-five other women and 
their corps of eighty correspondents in a successful 
advance-guard movement. Up to this point, the re^ 
ports had been excellent specimens of expert investiga- 
tion, with only a minimum suggestion of any real 
human life behind the subjects discussed. This one 
was in refreshing contrast, in that it was full of con- 
crete material dealing with a theme which always 
makes its strong appeal. 

Latin-American literature is almost entirely lacking- 
in any full account of its womanhood ; hence the Com- 
mission presented an appraisal of the girls and women 
whose cause it championed, mainly in the words of 
competent writers upon those republics. Only broad 

123 



J24 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

generalizations were possible, and they were grouped 
under four headings, the higher, the middle and the 
lower class women and the Indians. 

Of the higher classes, Albert Hale writes, — though 
he includes others than these women: "You cannot 
travel through South America without finding an ap- 
preciation of art, education and good manners; 
boorishness is practically unknown; kindliness, cour- 
tesy and breeding characterize the people." M. Georges 
Clemenceau, ex-Premier of France, says of these 
women : "The family tie appears to be stronger than, 
perhaps, in any other land. . . . The rich . . . 
take pleasure in having large families. . . . The 
greatest affection prevails and the greatest devotion to 
the parent roof- tree. . . . The women . . . 
enjoy a reputation, that seems well justified, of being 
extremely virtuous. ... In their role of faithful 
guardians of the hearth, they have been able to silence 
calumny and inspire universal respect by the purity 
and dignity of their life." Professor E. A. Ross 
asserts that in "the higher classes of tropical South 
America, the women are distinctly brighter than the 
men," and that on the West Coast they have "more 
character." He attributes this to the early immorality 
of the men, which affects unfavorably both body and 
mind. Of the high-born Mexican women, Nevin O. 
Winter writes : "They are sympathetic to an extreme. 
They are almost invariably watchful for the needs of 
their poor relations and are everywhere supporting 
numerous charities." 



THE UPBUILDING OF WOMANHOOD 125 

While it is difficult to describe women of the middle 
class when it is only now emerging, the report in- 
cludes in it all grades of women employed in the busi- 
ness world, trades and teachers of every sort. In 
Brazil and Argentina that class for the most part helps 
to solve the new problems of womanhood. In Chile 
they have placed emphasis upon the dignity of labor 
and have aided in introducing foreign ideals. Peruvian 
women of the middle class are looked upon with dis- 
dain, and even women teachers have little social stand- 
ing. Though woman's day has not yet dawned in 
Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia, in Mexico it has al- 
ready shone upon many women, which is regarded 
as one of the most hopeful signs of the times, a 
Mexican leader saying, "The highest moral develop- 
ment is to come from the middle class." The Com- 
mission quotes as equally applicable to these women 
what was said of Orientals in the Continuation Com- 
mittee Conference findings : "The walls which 
guarded the young girl are being demolished rapidly, 
and the spiritual walls which can protect her purity 
and peace are rising only slowly. The girls who leave 
Christian schools and homes to enter these new condi- 
tions must know more than their mothers did, must 
have more poise and self-control, and above all they 
must have the spiritual power of the indwelling Christ 
and the sense of a divine call to service." 

Women of the lower class make the strongest ap- 
peal. These are picturesque sketches of them by Pro- 
fessor Ross and Miss Florence Smith of Chile. "One 



126 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

woman, bent under a burden, carries a child at the 
breast, and is soon to become again a mother. An- 
other laden woman plies distaff and spindle as she 
creeps along. Here is a file of barefoot women bent 
under loads of earth or brick, escorted by a man with 
a whip." Miss Smith writes of Colombian women as 
they work with pickax or shovel on the highway, or 
stagger under burdens too heavy to be borne, — of the 
mothers of the 40,767 babies who died in Chile alone 
in 1909, less than a year old, because of alcoholism 
and unhygienic conditions. She pleads for the poor 
fallen girls, so numerous in all the republics. "Im- 
moral? Perhaps, as we count immorality. But who 
of us dares to say that, given their heritage, their 
ignorance, their temptations, we should not have sunk 
so low? Listen: 'I was only fourteen. I knew 
nothing ; my mother sold me/ The times were hard ; 
I had no work and a sick sister to feed.' 'I was an 
orphan; my aunt tired of me and connived with an 
evil woman who caused me to be drugged/ 'My own 
father seduced me.' " So runs on and on the heart- 
moving dirge. The dark cloud has its silver lining, 
however. These lower class women have strong 
natural affections, both for their families and for their 
friends. Filial love is universal so that elderly and 
married women obey their mothers as in childhood. 
Children upon meeting or leaving father or mother 
kiss them upon either the hand or the forehead. 

So far as the Commission's report goes, Indian 
women of this lower stratum do not fare any worse 



THE UPBUILDING OF WOMANHOOD 127 

than those just described; indeed, they are more free 
and less degraded among the higher tribes, descendants 
of the Incas and Aztecs. A Mexican correspondent 
says that Indian women there live in villages by them- 
selves and cultivate their little plots of ground; they 
carry their flowers, fruit and vegetables to the city 
and sell them on the streets or in the markets. These 
daughters of the Aztecs weave blankets, make pottery 
and still offer for sale feather work like that for which 
their ancestors were famous. In Bolivia the Indian 
women are on the plane of their husbands, not hav- 
ing a lord and master as in North America and not 
suffering from loose marriage bonds. Indian girls 
from the mountains of Peru often show exceptional 
artistic ability and develop original decorative motives 
from nature forms. Among the Mapuche Indians of 
Chile there is a woman priesthood, according to Rev. 
Alan Ewbank, and the witch-doctor is a woman. If 
a man aspires to become a witch-doctor, he must 
assume the dress of a woman. But the woe of it is 
that probably five millions of these Indian women are 
without anything except the faintest idea of their 
Heavenly Father and Savior, if they have heard even 
their names. 

Forty millions of women and girls such as have 
been described constitute the Latin-American parish 
of Commission V. While the challenge of their 
needs reached the ears of Mrs. Mary Hartmann in 
1848, when her husband died, and she began that 
heroic and saintly ministry to the bush negroes of 



128 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

Dutch Guiana, where she maintained a Christian sta- 
tion immured in a wilderness of heathenism, to Miss 
Melinda Rankin falls the honor of pioneering woman's 
work in Mexico. Having been moved by the stories 
of conditions there from returned Mexican War 
soldiers, she created sentiment and in 1850 started a 
school for Mexican children at Brownsville on the Rio 
Grande. In addition to teaching, she visited the 
Mexicans among whom she distributed Bibles, which 
soon crossed the river to Matamoras where they were 
gladly received. In 1857, when religious liberty was 
declared in Mexico, she went over to that city and 
later worked in Monterey. In this difficult field she 
labored on with singular devotion, until broken health 
forced her to relinquish her work in 1871. Her task 
was that of a teacher and a distributor of Bibles; yet 
under her supervision, her pupils established and 
ministered to fourteen congregations which were taken 
over later by the Presbyterians. 

Miss Rankin laid down three principles at that early 
stage of Latin- American work which are worthy of 
remembrance. She wrote : "I believe it wise, as far 
as possible, to avoid exciting prejudices in our labors 
among Roman Catholics. ... It has been a fixed 
principle with me not to attack their religion, but to 
present the truth and let that do its work. . . . 
If you wish to enlighten a room, you carry a light and 
set it down in it, and the darkness will disperse of 
itself." Another of her dicta was this: "Mexico 
should become evangelized mainly through the instru- 



THE UPBUILDING OF WOMANHOOD 129 

mentality of Mexicans themselves ; yet they need to be 
guided into the best manner of working," She fur- 
ther aimed to make her work undenominational, so 
as not to perpetuate the divisions of the Church at 
home in this new territory and to avoid confusing the 
people with doctrinal distinctions about which they 
knew nothing. Other women pioneers in the Com- 
mission's Hall of Fame are Miss Martha Watts of 
Brazil and Mrs. Frances Hamilton of Mexico, two 
rare workers. 

Education of various sorts is a strategic method 
very commonly employed by the women missionaries. 
Here a strong argument for kindergartens was 
entered in opposition to the report of the Commission 
on Education, and despite government competition. 
They are invaluable because by simple plays and songs 
they teach the value of work, the ideals of purity, un- 
selfishness, morality and truth — the very elements of 
Christian character. An experienced Mexican mis- 
sionary argues for them thus: "For the improve- 
ment of the education of the children, American 
kindergarten methods are greatly in demand. As a 
people the Mexicans are musical, and the children re- 
spond readily to the songs and games. The admirable 
devotion of the people to their children makes them 
appreciate such opportunities when afforded by the 
missions. Possibly there is no better way of break- 
ing down prejudice than through the kindergarten 
under missionary auspices." Day nurseries for little 
children are also greatly appreciated, especially when 



i3o RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

One recalls how many of them are illegitimate with 
no father to relieve the mother's burden of daily 
earning her child's support. 

The mission normal institution is most valuable, 
both because caste is less evident there and because 
teachers in evangelical schools should be either earnest 
Christians or trained in an evangelical atmosphere. In 
19 1 3 Dr. Browning reported forty-two schools and 
three thousand six hundred and ten students of this 
grade. Among the notable secondary institutions for 
girls, he regarded the Santiago College of Chile "the 
best known North American school for girls in all 
South America." It begins with kindergarten and car- 
ries the work through primary, secondary and higher 
grades, under the direction of a superior corps of 
teachers. In addition to the curriculum in liberal arts, 
it has a conservatory of music with an eight years' 
course and a department of fine arts. 

Securing students from the higher classes has not 
proceeded far in Latin America. Their young women 
are secluded from general society and are loyal to 
Roman Catholicism. In Church institutions they are 
taught accomplishments, such as * embroidery and 
music, and in the conventual schools religion is very 
central. What is demanded is an education suitable 
"for a wife and mother," that is, a non-vocational 
training. As large families are desired and as in- 
fant mortality is two or three times as great as in 
North America, this should be considered by the upper 
class students, for such women might inspire reform 



THE UPBUILDING OF WOMANHOOD 131 

measures for the public benefit, as well as know how 
to care for their own children. The Commission is 
of the opinion that if girls from the higher ranks 
in society are to be reached, a large sum of money 
is requisite to provide adequate buildings, faculties of 
good breeding and high culture, libraries and labora- 
tories. This in turn calls for cooperation between 
the missionary Boards. 

As a specimen of an entirely different sort of teach- 
ing the Congress was deeply interested in the unique- 
ness of Miss Cooped work among the San Bias In- 
dians on an island a hundred miles from Colon. Twice 
at extra sessions she had delighted her audience with 
the racy, gloriously-believing account of that mission 
and had illustrated her addresses with two trophies of 
her work, bright Indian boys who spoke and aided her 
variously. Certain that she was sent of God and 
utterly fearless of what man could do against one so 
sent, she had braved many dangers and had triumphed. 
In her school she has about 100 boys and 70 girls. 
Here is a sample of her as she addressed the Congress. 
"They come to my school in the morning as soon as 
the sun rises. They are very eager to learn. They 
will stay as late as eleven o'clock at night. For the 
first two months I was there, I taught school three 
times a day, and I had some private scholars besides. 
As soon as one group of children went out, another 
came in. They seemed to think that I could live with- 
out eating. Well, I could almost live by teaching. I 
have never been sick. . . . Let me tell you some- 



132 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

thing of the results. I have them in sanitation and 
morals, just as well as other results. When I went out 
there to that town, the houses were so close together 
that you could not walk hardly, but now we have broad 
streets and fences. There were ten saloons on the 
island ; there is not one now." 

Social programs were discussed by the Congress. It 
had been hoped that here might be found a common 
bond between the Roman Church and evangelical mis- 
sions ; but as a Church there is apparently no present 
probability of any united action with evangelicals. 
The woman's movement has scarcely begun to touch 
Latin America, though developments affecting the in- 
dustrial life and the entry of women in teaching and 
the professions are requiring some such organiza- 
tions as are found in North America and Europe. The 
evening before the presentation of the Commission's 
report was a woman's session, and at that time the 
wife of the President of the Congress, Senora Monte- 
verde, told of the beginnings of concerted action 
among women. The league for righting tuberculosis 
and the work of the Woman's Christian Temperance 
Union against intemperance she had mentioned as typ- 
ical of the good that might be accomplished by women 
either with or without the use of the Protestant name. 
Mexico seems farthest along in these organizations. 
The women there attend meetings in the interests of 
temperance, missions, working women and clubs of all 
sorts. Elsewhere it seemed desirable to adopt and 
enlarge the club idea, one missionary writing: 'The 



THE UPBUILDING OF WOMANHOOD 133 

field of the club seems to be as large in Latin- American 
countries as in any others ; and there is no reason why 
it may not be developed to an indefinite extent, bring- 
ing about the same results as those to be obtained in 
any other part of the world. It may be regarded as 
a legitimate part of mission activity to be developed 
in connection with church and school work." Women's 
organizations for the purpose of promoting a better 
education seem most common among Peruvians. So- 
cial betterment is also appealing to many women. 

The program of the Young Women's Christian As- 
sociation on its social side was commended by Sefiora 
Mont ever de and also by the report and by one of the 
speakers. The Association at Buenos Aires, repre- 
sented in the Congress by Senorita Cortes, is the fore- 
most organization in its social work for women. Mul- 
titudes of girls from abroad and from distant parts of 
the Plate countries come to that capital with little 
money and are subjected to the moral perils of the 
city. The Association aids them in various ways, not 
as a boarding house merely, but as a home and a 
"family" of young women with strong Christian lead- 
ership. Its employment bureau, savings-bank, and 
especially its religious meetings, are all helpful and are 
greatly appreciated. 

Mrs. John Howland of Mexico at the women's 
session of Tuesday night had spoken of "the womanly 
approach to the citadel of the home," and this was a 
phase of woman's work that was presented very effec- 
tively. Miss Florence Smith's address that same eve- 



134 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

ning upon "Womanhood in the Home" was most in- 
teresting. As already intimated, the home is more 
populous than with North Americans and Europeans. 
Besides the large family of children, — the wife of the 
President of the Congress is the mother of eleven, — 
there are usually others living there. In the family 
which Miss Smith described there were present "hus- 
band and wife, married son, wife and baby, invalid 
daughter, three other children, two mothers-in-law and 
numerous relatives and friends, gathered daily about 
their hospitable board. . . ■ . In rural communities 
three and even four generations, where girls marry at 
thirteen, are often found under the common roof- 
tree; and stalwart sons of thirty-five and forty are 
referred to as 'los ninos/ and if unruly even at that 
age are reduced to obedience by the rod." Yet man 
is also dominant over woman. "From the cradle to 
the grave, the life of the average Latin- American 
woman is under male influence: in childhood under 
paternal authority, or, failing that, under elder brother, 
or nearest male relative ; as a wife, wholly subservient 
to her husband; in old age, if widowed, to her sons. 
If she belongs to a conservative family, all these in- 
fluences are secondary to that of the priest." Mental 
apathy or inertia is likewise present, which even in 
evangelical families is hard to dispel among the women. 
Into such homes the woman missionary goes with 
her broader vision and her winsome Christian mes- 
sage. A little school girl may have led her thither; 
the entire family may follow her thence to the church. 



THE UPBUILDING OF WOMANHOOD 135 

Besides all the children of day and Sunday-schools, 
the sick and afflicted must be visited in their homes; 
new families must be followed up; opportunities for 
instilling important information bearing upon hygiene 
and temperance must be utilized; a visiting nurse is 
needed; and so in various ways the home citadel 
capitulates to the power of Christian adaptability and 
friendliness. 

In the Commission's opinion, the lack of good lit- 
erature is, possibly, one of the greatest weaknesses in 
missionary work for Latin-American women, as the 
whole range of wholesome books for young people and 
stories for children are wanting. Miss Blaney, teach- 
ing in the Escuela Popular of Valparaiso, writes : "The 
missions have printed and sold books only of a reli- 
gious character for girls. I believe that if the money 
could be obtained to print translations of good English 
books and fiction, it would help to prepare the way for 
open-mindedness and eventually for hearing the gospel. 
Lately I have had the pleasure of knowing some young 
society girls who know English. They have liked 
the English books I have loaned them so much that 
they will read no others, and they are always asking 
for more. One of them said she 'found French and 
Spanish novels so silly after having read about such 
nice people in English fiction.' " 

From Peru comes a plea for a woman's magazine, 
voiced in these words : "A Roman Catholic priest has 
said that his Church has full control of Peru, because 
it has the women entirely in its power. If we wish 



136 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

to win Peru for Christ, we must reach the women. 
The same is true even in a stronger sense of Bolivia 
and no doubt applies to all Latin America. While 
many women here cannot read, those who have been 
educated enough for that eagerly read all the books 
and papers they can find. Their intellectual life is 
starved, and their whole life is very narrow." If peri- 
odical articles cannot be written or translated because 
of the many demanding tasks of the women mission- 
aries, Miss Hodge's suggestion that Miss Laura 
White's plan be tried seems worthy of consideration. 
In her girls' school she introduced a course in which 
the girls were to study carefully some good stories in 
English and then translate and revivify them in their 
own tongue, thus enabling her to edit most creditably 
a vernacular magazine as a by-product of the class- 
room. 

The upbuilding of Latin-American womanhood will 
be accomplished through the uplifting of the living, 
loving Christ. On a crest of the dividing chain be- 
tween Argentina and Chile, thirteen thousand feet 
above the sea, is one of the most remarkable statues 
of the world, the heroic figure of the Christ of the 
Andes, standing with a cross in one hand and with the 
other uplifted. It was erected to commemorate the 
settlement by arbitration rather than by arms of the 
boundary dispute between the two adjacent republics, 
and on its pedestal the traveler reads, "He is our peace 
who hath made both one." At its dedication on March 
13, 1904, the Bishop of Ancud said: "Not only to 



THE UPBUILDING OF WOMANHOOD 137 

Argentina and Chile do we dedicate this monument, 
but to the world, that from this day it may learn the 
lesson of universal peace/ * That parable in stone 
sprang from the hearts of Bishop Benevente and 
Senora de Costa who, as president of the Christian 
Mothers' Association of Buenos Aires, undertook the 
work of securing funds and having the statue erected. 
"I even dare to think," she writes, "that the idea had 
to issue from the brain of a woman, because it is an 
idea of sentiment, and in all time men have reproached 
*us for thinking with the heart. ... It may be 
said that I had to contend with obstacles which seemed 
insurmountable for a woman. But I have a moral 
quality which I may call Saxon. I am persistent and 
tenacious in all that I believe true, good, or just. I 
have always thought that there is no force more power- 
ful than an energetic will which knows how to desire 
with faith." Her article closes with an appeal for 
money to build a monastery near the statue to serve as 
a refuge for lost travelers. Such an one is a type 
of the highest womanhood of Latin America, — a life 
abounding in alms deeds, supported by faith, accom- 
plishing the seemingly impossible through her indom- 
itable will. 

Until the parable is a materialized fact, the evangel- 
ical women of Latin America must live the exalted, 
transfigured life, patiently enduring opposition and 
misunderstanding, overcoming suspicion and fanatical 
hatred with friendliness and love, surmounting all 
obstacles through the constant exercise of Senora de 



138 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

Costa's "energetic will which knows how to desire with 
faith." In the future some glad, blissful day will 
dawn when the boundary line will be obliterated and 
evangelical and Romanist will be united through a 
return to the simplicity of the early apostolic faith 
in a crucified, risen, omnipresent, loving Christ, — "our 
peace who hath made both one." 



vn 

THE LATIN EVANGELICAL CHURCHES 

The vitally important theme, "The Church in the 
Field/' was in good hands, as Commission VI was 
composed of a Latin-American Methodist bishop as 
chairman, Dr. Homer C. Stuntz, previously a mis- 
sionary in the Philippines, and twenty-six others. Of 
these, eighteen were experienced workers in Latin 
fields, five were strong Latin Americans and three 
were missionary secretaries. The spirit in which they 
approached their task is seen in the opening paragraph 
of the Commission's findings: "With reference to 
the general purpose of evangelical work as carried on 
by foreign missionaries in Latin America, it cannot too 
often be remembered that the missionary comes in the 
spirit of brotherly sympathy, not to impose, but to 
help; not to dogmatize, but to demonstrate; not pri- 
marily even to teach, but to facilitate access to the 
Spirit of God who 'shall guide into all the truth.' " 

The Church whose interests they represented was 
defined as made up of "the indigenous bodies of Chris- 
tian believers of the evangelical faith and practice 
growing up in the field under consideration;" and its 
spirit accords with the general purpose of evangelical 
missions just stated. Its strength cannot be measured 

139 



140 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

alone by the quarter of a million communicants of 
to-day. Back of them are double or triple their total 
of friends, sympathizers and adherents. They are 
convinced of the truth of the evangelical message; 
they worship in evangelical churches; their children 
are in the Sunday-schools; many of them will come 
into the Church some day. Moreover, it must be kept 
in mind in any fair appraisal of the strength of the 
Church in Latin America that as a social force it is 
influential out of all proportion to the number of its 
members. It is a true gospel leaven; and it is the 
nature of leaven — though small in bulk compared to 
the meal in which it is hidden away — to permeate 
steadily the remainder of the whole mass and to bring 
it into conformity with itself. 

One cannot estimate fully the problems and char- 
acter of the evangelical community without bearing 
clearly in mind the Roman Catholic Church under 
whose overshadowing influences most of its member- 
ship have lived. Those who know Romanism through 
acquaintance with it in North America or Great 
Britain should realize that Catholicism in those 
countries is centuries removed from the supersti- 
tious, persistently living yet ever moribund Church 
of Latin America. To be convinced of this, the 
traveler needs only to attend services in the beautiful, 
progressive city of Havana, where not five minutes' 
walk away from the ceiba tree in whose shade 
Columbus preached to the Indians, he will see and 
hear a ritual not less magical nor more religiously 



THE LATIN EVANGELICAL CHURCHES 141 

helpful than that of the pagan red man of four cen- 
turies ago. In so enlightened a city as Panama, the 
Congress delegates, on their way to hear Dr. Speer 
preach, saw diagonally opposite the famous old Ca- 
thedral, on the first floor of the Bishop's residence, a 
greater throng assembled for the Sunday morning lot- 
tery-drawing than is attracted to the cathedral services, 
while far greater numbers are to be seen at the bull- 
fight Sunday afternoons than at all the churches. 
Though the same thing might be said of Roman 
Catholics in attendance at Coney Island as compared 
with the attendance at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth 
Avenue, yet the services and the spirit in the two 
cathedrals differ greatly. 

To be more specific, the Church from which the 
Latin American comes out is venerable, with a history 
which, it claims, goes back to St. Peter and Jesus. Its 
churches and cathedrals appeal to the imagination 
through their symbolical architecture and ritual, their 
cool spaciousness and their "dim religious light," so 
helpful to those who would go apart for private devo- 
tion or meditation. Most of them having state or 
private foundations, their support makes little demand 
upon the people, many of whom are poor. Latin- 
American religion is largely sacramentarian. Auricu- 
lar confession, which is part of penance, is exalted and 
by the women is highly regarded; Church worship is 
priestly rather than congregational, the audience being 
passive and often apathetic listeners with no real inter- 
est in what many do not at all understand. With the 



142 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

exception of a very small minority, the priesthood is 
not broadly read and trained ; and even when there is 
unusual intelligence, ecclesiastical prescriptions and 
prohibitions restrict the eager seminarist to little more 
than a mediaeval obscurantism. All this light and 
shadow is held so indispensable to the soul's salvation 
that the layman finds it difficult to leave the Church of 
his childhood and of his fathers; while the faithful 
priest deems it part of his bounden duty to prevent by 
every means the renunciation of Catholicism by any 
of his flock. When this cannot be prevented, the 
heretic departs followed by anathemas and ostracism, 
if not persecution. 

Coming from such a heritage and training, what 
does this religious outcast find in the evangelical com- 
munity for which he has sacrificed many things ? He 
unites with a church which is stigmatized as a foreign 
importation, a taunt that means much. The church 
building which shelters him is anything but ecclesias- 
tical in architecture and furnishings, as little calculated 
to foster devotion as a pewed loft oftentimes. Yet 
for its upkeep he is expected to contribute weekly. 
If the convert — pervert, his world calls him — chances 
to belong to the upper or middle classes, he finds that 
his fellow Christians are from a stratum of society 
which he shrinks from associating with: — "not many 
wise, not many mighty, not many noble" surely; and 
perhaps he substitutes "any" for "many" in the quota- 
tion. Though the Commission states that with the 
exception of a recent immigrational addition Latin 



THE LATIN EVANGELICAL CHURCHES 143 

and Indian are the two main elements in mission 
churches, it adds that the one from which the mission- 
ary wins converts is more Indian than Spanish in 
many fields. Such a person will find among his hum- 
bler fellow members no outstanding leadership of men 
of his own class. If the church has a national pastor, 
he usually has no more than a secondary school educa- 
tion. If a missionary is the only leader, his other ex- 
cellencies may be obscured by a halting or narrow 
use of the mellifluous tongue, an offence to a Latin 
ear. If the missionary happens to be enamored of his 
native country and correspondingly unappreciative of 
his adopted land, the convert's resentment rises. Yet 
if the new comer is from the lower classes, as most of 
them are, these new associations are not as trying as 
to the student, or merchant, or professional man de- 
scribed above. He finds himself among others of his 
class and there is a fellowship and nearness to one 
another that he has never known before. 

Yet of whatever class the Latin- American convert 
may be, he has left behind him the narrow, formal, 
lifeless religion of his fathers and, like the pearly 
nautilus, has raised against it a firm wall of separation, 
while he builds for his emancipated soul larger and 
more stately mansions, varying in their spaciousness 
and beauty with his own capacity and faithfulness and 
that of his teacher. The Bible, especially the New 
Testament and its incomparable Gospels, is the guide 
and inspiration of his newly acquired freedom. The 
lifeless crucifix is cast aside while he lays hold of a 



144 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

sympathizing Jesus, a living Christ. Yet the cross 
is not abandoned. It has revealed to him what he 
never realized before, the heinousness of sin and the 
certainty of its full atonement and of his own salvation 
through Christ alone, without the intervention of 
priest, or saint, or the Mother of Christ. Instead of 
wearing a crucifix, he is sometimes called upon to bear 
about on his body the marks of the Lord Jesus, and 
always follows Him with the necessity of taking up 
his cross daily, if he is fully faithful. Just in propor- 
tion to the measure of his acceptance of salvation does 
he endeavor to save others, with a sympathy begotten 
from his own experience and a tactful love imparted 
by the human Jesus, now ascended and giving gifts 
to men. As time passes, he finds that his life must be 
real and Christocentric, if it is to outvalue his old 
experience. Here he is at the critical point of his 
spiritual history, — the parting of the ways where many 
relapse into the formality and laxity of former days 
and many others stir themselves up to a new and daily 
experience of the power of the keeping Christ. 

In discussing the organization and membership of 
Latin evangelical churches, the Commission empha- 
sized the Moorish influence evident in all parts of 
Latin America except Brazil. This influence upon the 
evangelical membership should be regarded by evan- 
gelists and administrators of Christian work. It de- 
mands both comprehension and great patience. When 
understood, it furnishes a ready explanation for some 
temperamental, domestic, social and even religious 



THE LATIN EVANGELICAL CHURCHES 14S 

phenomena otherwise most baffling to the missionary 
of a widely different race. 

The Indian element has been Christianized only 
imperfectly; hence that strain in the Church has no 
true ideas of sin, little hatred for it and no idea that it 
is ever possible to live free from its contamination. 
The Latin element is not acquainted with the Scriptures 
and so differs little from the Indian in its attitude to- 
ward sin. Dissimulation is common; everything is 
excused on the plea of temperament, precedent, or 
custom. Add to these tendencies the Latin emotion- 
alism, desire to please and the consequent responsive- 
ness and demonstrativeness of congregations hearing 
the gospel, and one can understand why some are 
admitted to the church who are not truly Christian, 
Well may the caution of Senor Rodriguez Cepero be 
observed in receiving members: "The workers in 
Porto Rico must not look for statistics only. The 
work in some churches is like artificially ripened fruit 
Fruit dealers sometimes resort to such methods, but 
members must not be brought into the church in the 
same way. They must ripen slowly, so that they are 
truly converted before they are admitted to its member- 
ship." Yet that extreme of caution which chills and 
repels the timid but earnest seeker after truth is also 
to be avoided. A catechumenate of some sort is very 
desirable for most applicants for membership, that 
they may know the certainty concerning those things 
wherein they are instructed. It is needed to avoid an 
evil resulting in the Apostolic Church, when the step 



146 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

from Judaism to Christianity was apparently so short 
that many entered the infant Church only to bring 
with them Judaizing tendencies. The incoming of 
Latins who count themselves Protestants merely be- 
cause of an antagonism for Romanism, without having 
broken away from their sins and without having en- 
tered into any sort of evangelical experience, is an 
extreme form of this danger which suitable instruc- 
tion would expose and correct. 

The program of evangelical churches thus consti- 
tuted has been stated in part in Chapter III. How im- 
portant personal work is, the quotation of a Central- 
American missionary's testimony will evidence. "Peo- 
ple are afraid of being 'queered* by attending evan- 
gelical meetings. The greater part of these people will 
never be reached, if we wait to get them into formal 
service. Those who have no heart interest in evan- 
gelical teachings and practices are afraid of being 
ostracised. ... By personal tact, by grace of 
manner and by an unshrinking persistence, the very 
persons who are thus made the victims of such treat- 
ment may be won from their prejudice and error. To 
neglect the God-given opportunities of doing personal 
work with the many whom we meet day by day is to 
run the risk of showing ourselves unprofitable and 
unworthy servants." 

Young people's societies were strongly commended 
by the Commission. In Brazil they are a most fruitful 
field for developing workers. People converted late 
in life do not give up their habits and conceptions read- 



THE LATIN EVANGELICAL CHURCHES 147 

ily. Young people are much more teachable and can 
be trained into the highest form and expression of the 
Christian life. They are more ready to take part in 
public worship and church work than are the youth 
of the United States, partly because of greater facility 
in speaking in public. Another correspondent of the 
Commission urged that these societies should add to 
their religious meetings activities of a social and phys- 
ical sort, the latter to meet the counter-attractions of 
the dance, cock-pit, bull-fight and race-track. "Base- 
ball, basketball and kindred games are good for the 
boys. Similar recreation could be planned for the 
girls. Literary clubs and entertainments of every 
legitimate kind should be provided. Any general 
provision for the growth of the evangelical churches in 
Latin America must include these social forces. This 
is vital to the life of the Church and of the young 
people. If the Church does not offer safe and sane 
recreation for its youth, the world will offer some other 
kind." Yet a missionary in Cuba emphasizes the obvi- 
ous caution that these societies should be subordinate 
to the Church in order that the religious life may be 
strongly maintained. 

To what has already been written concerning Sun- 
day schools, one needs to do little more than add the 
endorsement of this Commission. Thus Mr. Jones 
of the Friends Mission in Cuba stated that about half 
of those received into the church during the past three 
years have come directly through the Sunday school, 
while ninety-five percent, of their best trained full 



i 4 8 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

members came from the same source. While Profes- 
sor Monteverde believed fully in the Sunday-school 
work, with which he has been identified for thirty 
years, he is convinced that its program and teaching 
methods should be changed radically, if they are to be 
most effective. The appointment of the Rev. G. P. 
Howard, of Montevideo, as South America's Sunday- 
school secretary, noted by the Commission, doubtless 
will help on these improvements. 

Special evangelistic efforts of the churches, like the 
"protracted meetings" reported as being so helpful in 
Yucatan, were commended. In Chihuahua and Mex- 
ico City and in seven South American centers evan- 
gelistic and special meetings for united prayer have 
resulted in conversions and in the spiritual quickening 
of very many. It was queried whether the time has 
not arrived to unite in holding concerted interdenomi- 
national evangelistic services extending over some 
weeks, or at least several days. These would be held 
in the stronger centers under the leadership of men 
having a fine sense of local situations and able to 
speak to the people in their own tongue. 

Social work of the churches has been discussed 
previously, and only one item needs to be added here 
concerning its relation to reforms. Experience shows 
that it should be "an attitude of extreme wariness. 
The worker ought to remember that any action of his 
may involve for years the reputation of the evangelical 
churches." Concerning abuses which attempt to de- 
stroy the liberties or which threaten the existence of 



THE LATIN EVANGELICAL CHURCHES 149 

defenceless tribes or races, the Commission says : "If 
the demands of Christianity require the action of the 
missionary, he should obtain the adhesion of the bulk 
of the Christian forces in the country before taking 
action, then appeal to the national authorities to right 
the wrong, and only after exhausting in vain the na- 
tional resources of justice should he assume the respon- 
sibility of publishing the particulars in foreign lands. 
Pride of race is nowhere keener than in Latin America ; 
and to hold one of its republics up as a gazing-stock 
to the nations of the earth is an unpardonable sin, no 
matter how just the cause." 

The problems of missions in these republics are such 
that they received considerable attention in the report, 
little in the discussion. The external relations of 
churches to the state are less troublesome than before 
religious liberty had been declared. The Rev. Fran- 
cisco Penzotti, with nearly forty years experience in 
Central and South America, has been imprisoned many 
times for the offense of distributing the Bible or 
preaching, the most noted instance being an eight- 
months' incarceration in a common jail at Callao, Peru. 
The Rev. L. G. Mora of Mexico told the Congress 
of that republic's sixty- four evangelical martyrs. Such 
extreme cases and many less important ones have com- 
pelled missionaries to face the government and have 
hindered evangelical growth. Though religious equal- 
ity is the law of every Latin-American state, the 
Roman Catholic Church is actually the established or 
dominant religion except in Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala, 



150 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

Cuba and Panama. Outside Brazil, where there is a 
true liberty of worship, the priest, generally through 
the petty authorities, can at times harass the Christian 
worker and interfere with his work. The laws relating 
to civil marriage, divorce, religious instruction, public 
beneficence and burial are other hindrances to the mis- 
sionary propaganda. On the other hand, officials are 
increasingly friendly to the missionaries and are favor- 
ing certain elements in the evangelical community, 
where it can be done rightly. The Congress favored 
a policy of identity of interests between missions and 
the state. Both groups are working for the same great 
fundamental objects, the spread of education, the sup- 
pression of disease and crime, the eradication of the 
causes of moral corruption and the safeguarding of the 
rights of the people to the peaceful pursuit of industry 
and happiness. All conflict should be avoided. 

As for internal problems. Those connected with 
discipline are varied. Temptations to impurity and the 
public attitude toward that sin in the case of men make 
a pure evangelical Church difficult to maintain. The 
almost prohibitive cost of marriage for the poor and 
the tendency to Corinthianize among the wealthy, with 
the large proportion of illegitimacy prevalent, add to 
the problem. Mr. Ritchie felt that unfaithfulness in 
marriage and related questions were so serious as to 
require a special conference to discuss them. 

Sunday observance in the countries under review 
is most difficult. The most attractive excursions, and 
business meetings of clubs, commercial houses and 



THE LATIN EVANGELICAL CHURCHES 151 

political parties are held on Sundays. When men join 
evangelical churches, they are apt to be so interrelated 
socially, industrially and by ties of kinship to those 
about them who care little for the sacredness of the 
day that to expect any immediate sensitiveness to the 
question of Sunday observance is as unreasonable as 
it is desirable. The probationary period required by 
many denominations as a test of willingness to follow 
Christ in all things strengthens the Sabbath-keeping 
spirit of candidates. Evangelical churches have 
thrown their influence on the side of a more scriptural 
use of Sunday and have uttered their testimony against 
its flagrant abuses. These and other influences have 
actually crystallized into statutes, Argentina, for exam- 
ple, having passed a Sunday law that has been in force 
for a decade. Other countries have initiated legislation 
having the same object in view, so that the problem 
is lightening. Yet it still remains. As a missionary 
in Brazil puts it: "The real 'Sunday problem' before 
the mission churches to-day is to find out reverently 
and prayerfully what is essential with respect to Sun- 
day in the light of God's Word, and what is traditional 
only. . . . The evangelical forces must come to 
some conviction as to the ideals of Sunday observance 
which they will seek to bring to bear on the life habits 
of their converts. There must be an attempt by con- 
structive processes to bring about a more wholesome 
use of the Sunday holiday by the social groups which 
live apart from the disciplinary and cultural processes 
of the evangelical churches. The very best experience 



i 5 2 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

of Christian leaders in all parts of the world should be 
drawn upon to this end." 

Intemperance is an evil which prevails all over Latin 
America. Native wines, imported liquors, alcohol 
made in the great sugar areas of Peru, Argentina and 
Brazil, are sold in almost every kind of commercial 
house, and are accessible in every restaurant, dining- 
car and hotel. The voice of the evangelical Church in 
this wide field is practically unanimous in condemning 
this evil. Temperance societies are now being formed 
by Latin Americans in the different countries, and 
scientific temperance instruction has been introduced 
into the public schools of Peru and to some extent in 
Uruguay and other countries. Whatever there is of 
teaching throughout these lands as to total abstinence 
from alcoholic liquors is due in its inception to the 
evangelical movement. 

A fourth besetting sin of Latin Americans, though 
not deemed sinful by many, as it is frequently under 
Church oversight, is gambling, especially in the form 
of lotteries. All church members are brought face to 
face with it and its variations in the guise of raffles and 
other schemes of chance. For the majority of them 
it appears to be perfectly legitimate to purchase lottery 
tickets, for this is sanctioned by the government. More- 
over, those who fail to draw premiums consent to this 
on purchasing tickets and are prepared for it. Indeed, 
the selling of these tickets gives employment to very 
many needy persons, especially to the maimed and 
crippled. It is not easy to convince impulsive Latins 



THE LATIN EVANGELICAL CHURCHES 153 

of the evil of the lottery; years of courageous exposi- 
tion of ethical principles and of patient dealing with 
departures from these standards are required before 
it ceases. 

The churches under consideration are very much 
like the one in Corinth whose problems, as revealed in 
his first Corinthian epistle, caused St. Paul so much 
anxiety and called for such sternness. It is for that 
reason that the Commission thus writes: "The evan- 
gelical churches should always and everywhere guard 
against falling into lax ways in the matter of disci- 
pline. Church membership should ever be held incom- 
patible with lying, stealing, adultery, dishonest prac- 
tices and in fact with any expression of a low standard 
of morals." It would be wholly unjust to infer that 
evangelical church members of Latin America are typ- 
ically described in the warning quoted; they are the 
exceptions while every church has its saints, just as did 
those of apostolic days. 

In turning from the grosser weaknesses of the evan- 
gelical communities to consider the spiritual life of 
their churches, one takes heart despite the lacks still 
evident there. It is obviously a more openly tested 
life than is found in Protestant lands. Volumes could 
be written telling of persecutions ranging all the way 
from malicious libel and the petty social slights and 
business boycotts, which are the commonplace expe- 
riences of new members, up to imprisonment. These 
things are met in the spirit of good soldiership, and 
those who have once identified themselves openly with 



154 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

the Church are rarely known to have permitted perse- 
cution to swerve them from their loyalty to Christ. 
Other evidences of spiritual faithfulness when under 
test are seen when men give up a lucrative business 
because they will not work on Sunday, or because the 
giving or receiving of bribes was demanded. Some 
have restored money unlawfully taken ; others have 
banished liquor from their stores, thereby losing many 
of their most profitable customers; still others have 
ended unlawful family relations by a marriage which 
was a public confession of former wrong-doing, not 
easy for those who made it. 

In the more specifically religious duties of Chris- 
tians, it is gratifying to find that in many churches a 
considerable proportion of the membership is found at 
every preaching service and at prayer-meetings and 
other public functions of the church, attending in all 
five or six services a week. If the prayer-meeting is 
a spiritual thermometer of the Church, then it must 
be admitted that the spirituality of Latin church mem- 
bers is perhaps deeper than in the home lands ; for the 
attendance is greater and the prayers more spontaneous 
in the former than in the latter. However, other 
factors besides spirituality determine one's presence 
at prayer-meetings. The greatest difficulty in these 
meetings is not in getting people to attend and to pray, 
but in making them realize the true significance of 
prayer and in preventing merely perfunctory praying. 
An additional proof of the genuine spiritual life of 
the converts is seen in their custom of reading and 







SEA WALL CHURCH, PANAMA 
CONTINUATION COMMITTEE 



THE LATIN EVANGELICAL CHURCHES 155 

studying the Bible. Many young Christians put older 
ones to shame by the assiduous way in which they 
drink at the living springs of revelation. In the Church 
at large, however, there is the same lack of Bible study 
as is found elsewhere. It is not so easy to arrive at 
just conclusions as to the spiritual status of members 
of these churches by the evangelistic activities in which 
they are willing to participate. The larger number o£ 
those who are ready to undertake such work are far 
more ready to denounce evil ways than to instill right- 
eous purposes. Yet a steady increase of true evangelis- 
tic zeal is noted. 

A member of the Commission writes from Brazil as 
follows: "A deeply spiritual pastor tends to make a 
deeply spiritual church; and a spiritual church, if prop- 
erly led, inevitably becomes an intensely aggressive 
church. . . . Our greatest need in Latin America 
is for competent, aggressive, Spirit-filled leadership. 
Our people are ready to follow where such leadership 
is found, taking part in personal evangelism, in tract 
distribution, in the holding of cottage prayer-meetings 
and in the manifold activities of church upbuilding." 

Over against this help to spirituality the Commission 
noted as hindrances the lack of devotional literature 
in Spanish and Portuguese and the absence of a sense 
of personal responsibility for the performance of their 
ordinary church duties noted among many of the 
members. They have been brought up to think that 
the Church will go on, whether those composing it 
actively cooperate or not. Not a few Sunday-school 



i 5 6 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

teachers and church officials accept their duties and 
then perform them when they are inclined to do so. 
Their children attend Sunday-school no oftener than 
they please, and their absence receives no rebuke from 
the parents. 

The task of self-propagation of the evangelical 
Church was urged by the Commission as a corrective 
of imperfectly developed or waning spirituality. "The 
principal aim of every intelligent pastor," it declares, 
"should be to set every member to work. Every mem- 
ber who is not interested in some branch of Christian 
work will very likely soon be lost to the Church. By 
the employment of various methods, the problem of 
self -propagation will have been solved ; and the spirit- 
ual life and missionary spirit of the Church will have 
been aroused to its highest pitch through the spiritual 
life and activity of each member coming to realize 
what is his duty to God and to the dying world around 
him. ,, Many churches contribute to the Board under 
whose care they are, while some have taken the initi- 
ative in work in behalf of other races. Five years 
ago a group of Christians of one denomination organ- 
ized a Board of Missions, raised among the churches 
a fund of $1,000 a year, appointed two of their number 
and sent them to three of the Indian tribes of central 
Mexico. This organization has also made an annual 
contribution for some years to help sustain an inde- 
pendent work in Chile. Several missionaries urge the 
organization of active members of the church into 
small bands for aggressive evangelism, planning their 



THE LATIN EVANGELICAL CHURCHES 157 

work and keeping them inspired for its performance. 
A woman's missionary society for work at their own 
doors was another proposal looking toward self-prop- 
agation. 

Problems of self-support were discussed, with more 
frequent references to successful methods in Korea 
and Africa than in Latin America. If beginnings had 
been in that direction, as was the case in Korea, possi- 
bly results would have been like the church growing 
out of the voluntary Bible reading of a Negro me- 
chanic which won his master's family, led to the estab- 
lishment of an evangelical community and the erection 
of the only building in Ecuador dedicated exclusively 
to gospel service. More applicable than the Korean, 
Chinese and African illustrations of self-support was 
that of the Philippine Islands — apparently drawn from 
the experience of the Commission's chairman — as 
conditions there more nearly parallel those obtaining 
in Latin America. An itinerancy for preaching the 
simple gospel led to the conversion of a few. From 
these the most fit were chosen to conduct Sunday serv- 
ices and one on mid-week. The missionary visited 
them once in two or three months, the members in the 
meanwhile maintaining their own meetings and gather- 
ing in others. As a result, within seven years that 
denomination had gathered into its church fellowship 
over 20,000 believers, and more than a hundred se- 
lected exhorters and local preachers were preaching 
from one to three times weekly without so much as 
thinking of receiving salary. Three or four of the 



158 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

stronger churches had undertaken the entire support 
of their Filipino pastors who gave all their time to the 
work. 

In Latin America an error may have been made of 
the sort described by a Buenos Aires missionary : "I am 
beginning to feel that it is a mistake to go into a city 
and put up a building of a given sort and say to the 
people in effect: 'Come and be our members; that is 
all that you have to do, as we pay all expenses for 
building and for running the church. All you have to 
do is to be good Christians and just members.' I 
think it is a mistake to let the people feel that it is the 
Board's house, organ and seats, that this is the Board's 
man that we have for pastor and that nothing is ours." 
Another writes from Mexico : "If we continue the 
present plan, we shall not establish self-sustaining 
churches in Mexico in one hundred years. If the peo- 
ple realize the pastor's financial dependence upon them, 
they will rally to his support, not only financially, but 
otherwise; they will attend his meetings more regu- 
larly and aid him in the work which is one between him 
and them, and not between him and some Board." An 
inspiring example of what Latin America actually has 
done in this direction is supplied by the independent 
Brazilian Presbyterian Churches where self-support 
was urged from the first. They maintain public wor- 
ship, are developing a strong national ministry and 
pay for everything which is done by Brazilians. To 
secure self-support evangelical Christians must be in- 
sistently taught the obligations of stewardship of life 



THE LATIN EVANGELICAL CHURCHES 159 

and property and the privilege of making sacrifices for 
the Church and its Lord. 

Of three marks of a well developed national Church, 
self -propagation, self-support and self-government, the 
last is in Latin America a peculiarly delicate one to 
debate. The Congress faced these facts. First, a 
large percentage of church expenses is paid by the 
sending Societies, making it seem desirable for them 
to retain control of funds, and hence with little inde- 
pendence of the churches so supported. Yet the Pres- 
byterian Church of Brazil is independent of the sup- 
porting Board in New York, except for a certain 
amount of money granted each year to aid the weaker 
churches, the grant being diminished ten percent, each 
year. Missionaries cooperate with it by developing 
new fields which are later turned over to the national 
Church. While some would object to placing so much 
power in the hands of the national evangelical Church, 
nothing was made more evident to the Commission 
than that the Church in the field should be given a 
larger share in the initiation and prosecution of the 
common task than has been accorded it hitherto. 

Again, as the evangelical communities enlist the mid- 
dle and higher classes in their membership, there is a 
growing restlessness because missionaries are slow to 
admit members of the national Churches to member- 
ship upon administrative and disciplinary committees 
and boards. Upon this point the Commission thus 
expressed itself : "We note a growing tendency to put 
responsibility upon the native Church and to rely upon 



160 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

the guidance of native leaders in local affairs. We 
believe that this is in accord with the best principles 
and especially the general principle that the work of 
evangelization of the field belongs, and should even- 
tually be left, to the members of the native Church." 

Finally, premonitions were noted of a movement, 
similar to that underlying the two Presbyterian 
Churches in Brazil, which would establish organiza- 
tions made up wholly of national members and minis- 
ters and entirely independent of support, guidance, or 
direction in any form from non-Latin Boards and 
Churches. The action of the Conference at Cincinnati 
with regard to united work and exchange of properties 
and constituencies between two Boards showed, at a 
special meeting of some of the delegates concerned, 
that Mexican leaders did not approve of being thus 
disposed of, as would not have been possible for an 
independent Church. When the time comes for na- 
tional leadership of sufficient strength, as in parts of 
Brazil, this may be wise ; but the Latin leaders do not 
advise any further action at present. 

The great need of a numerous and fully qualified 
national leadership as a vital prerequisite of Latin 
evangelical Church development, which other Commis- 
sions had insisted upon, was even more prominent in 
the report and discussion of this theme. Here the for- 
eign, as well as the national leader, was considered. 
As the missionary is so often the foremost man of an 
evangelical community, he should have had, first of 
all, a personal experience of the living God, with its 



THE LATIN EVANGELICAL CHURCHES 161 

resultant soundness of character. And yet it must be 
more than intuitive faith and an axiomatic morality 
that he brings to men. Latins will question the moral 
standards of Christianity and also the authority of 
Christ in the realm of morals and ethics; and unless 
he is able to meet them on their own ground, his work 
will be unfruitful. A second characteristic of foreign 
leadership is a keen sense of the brotherhood of the 
human race. There is no place in Latin America for 
the missionary who believes in the special election and 
high calling of the Anglo-Saxon or any other race to 
a predestined supremacy of the world. A third essen- 
tial for one who is to lead is tactful sympathy. The 
social evil, illiteracy, mendicancy, intemperance, poli- 
tical corruption, hatred and a host of other evils can 
no more be eradicated by cynical criticism in Latin 
America than in any other land. These are not Latin 
evils but are common to humanity. He who would 
serve any people must be as considerate, as friendly 
and as loving as his Master. A fourth characteristic 
required for leadership in this work is broad culture. 
There is no danger of putting too much emphasis upon 
the intellectual training of those who are to work 
among the western representatives of one of the most 
brilliantly intellectual races that the world has known. 
Nowhere is the obstacle which bars the access of the 
gospel to the hearts of men so preeminently an in- 
tellectual one. 

But evangelical missionaries are bound to be rela- 
tively ephemeral in Latin America. The future great- 



ite RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

ness or failure of these republics is in the hands of 
their educated leaders. The Latin evangelical who 
would win men of culture and influence cannot do so 
if he is dogmatic and savors of hollow ecclesiasticism. 
No insincerity will be permitted ; obscurantism is even 
more objectionable in Protestants than in the Roman 
Church. Among the intellectuals he will need to meet 
such a challenge as Argymiro Galvao, formerly pro- 
fessor of philosophy in the law school at Sao Paulo, 
publishes in his lecture on "The Conception of God." 
"We are in the realm of realism; the reason medi- 
tates not on theological principles, but on facts fur- 
nished by experience. God is a myth; He has no 
reality; He is not an object of science." The national 
leader must recognize likewise the self-consciousness 
of the dominant classes in these virile republics. They 
are proud of their history and of their heritage and 
are slow to submit to foreign influence. 

The quest for such men as can lead worthily the 
Latin evangelical Churches is one demanding time 
and patience. One of the weaknesses of foreign mis- 
sionary effort has been the expectation of results with- 
out allowing the necessary time for their production. 
This too often leads to "hot-house" methods, with 
premature ripeness and quick decay. But time alone 
will not secure leaders. Prolonged Christian nurture 
and superlative mental training are essential. The 
state and national institutions must be looked to for 
some of these men; and if their allegiance and enlist- 
ment can be secured, the campaign is half won. How 



THE LATIN EVANGELICAL CHURCHES 163 

•can an effective appeal be made to these students? 
The Commission replies thus : "We shall win them 
to faith in Jesus Christ and a dedication to His service 
only as we treat human problems, both intellectual and 
moral, with unflinching honesty; as we put ourselves 
in sympathetic touch with the best in their national 
aspirations; as we believe that the Latin American 
will have his own contribution to make to the great 
composite which will one day be the religion of the 
race." 

Where shall such leaders receive the special prep- 
aration for their momentous task? In Europe or 
North America, some insist. Yet the student going 
to those lands lives an exotic life; he is in danger of 
losing sympathy and touch with his own people; his 
foreign training, whether theoretically or practically 
considered, is valuable for conditions and theories 
widely different from those obtaining in Latin Amer- 
ica. These drawbacks are not offset by the advantages 
of superior teaching methods and better educational 
equipment. 

But even if a few choice men are educated abroad, 
it is impracticable for many leaders to be sent to those 
lands for final education. And here this Commission 
faced the same impasse that confronted the one on 
* 'Education/ ' The preparation of men and women for 
work among the lower classes is relatively well 
provided for ; there is nothing wholly suitable for pre- 
paring university graduates for the new positions of 
Christian leadership. The report and a hypothetical 



z64 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

statement of Dr. Chester on the floor hinted at the 
possibility of special churches in a few great cultural 
centers where this class could be ministered unto 
separately. Already the Young Men's Christian 
Association is doing something for those who will be 
leaders in the professions and in business, but the 
Church has yet to be built in which Christian leaders 
can meet intellectuals week by week and face to face. 
The preparation of these preachers and religious 
guides waits for that great Christian university, 
with its broad and devout theological department, 
where a select few may be prepared inwardly and 
intellectually for the most rewarding duty of the 
evangelical Church. When that day dawns these 
Latin republics will have their Martin Luther and 
John Knox, their John Wesley and Charles Finney, 
their Sherwood Eddy and John R. Mott. Meanwhile 
the Commission was not unmindful of lay leadership 
in every walk in life and of that greater company of 
humble Christian workers and pastors in whose faith- 
ful hands is the shepherd's crook and whose loving 
counsels and helpful ministry to body and soul will 
build up the evangelical churches and hasten the com- 
ing of a spiritual Kingdom whose Head is Jesus Christ 
Himself. 



VIII 
THE HOME FULCRUM 

The report of Commission VII on "The Home 
Base," with Mr. Harry Wade Hicks as its experienced 
chairman, dealt only with the home operations of 
North American Societies having work in Latin 
America. Time limitations and other serious difficul- 
ties prevented the extensive correspondence involved 
in an international presentation of the subject. Yet 
it should be recalled that the twenty-one denominations 
in the United States and Canada having missions in 
Latin America include 137,789 churches or parishes 
out of approximately 150,000, or a little more than 
nine-tenths of the Protestant churches in these coun- 
tries. It is vitally important that these millions of 
Christians should be thoroughly aroused for the sup- 
port of missions among their southern neighbors. The 
program for the development of interest in their life 
and religious problems is less advanced than in the 
case of Asiatic and African fields, yet the Panama 
Congress cannot fail to increase greatly intelligence 
and the sense of obligation toward Latin America. 

The Commission was impressed with the special 
need of intercession for that part of the world where 
the delicacy and greatness of the task is little ap- 
preciated and whose claims Christians of North 

165 



166 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

America so little heed. In Europe, the great war, 
and certain theories of interchurch relationships al- 
ways, are responsible for the still greater lukewarm- 
ness in furthering work among the Latin republics. 
Hence an opening statement of the report : "The con- 
viction that through intercessory prayer the difficul- 
ties surrounding the work are to be overcome has been 
deepened week by week as the investigations have 
progressed. Whatever other measures may be ad- 
vanced for developing cooperation at the home base, 
the duty of praying for the missions and workers in 
Latin-American lands, for their adequate support and 
for the peoples for whom they are laboring, is upheld 
by the Commission as the one indispensable condition 
of success." In general such an emphasis is more 
common in Great Britain than in North America. 

The Commission diagnosed the abnormal attitude of 
Christians toward evangelical work in Latin lands as 
the first step in its treatment of the case. Ignorance 
is a root reason for indifference. With a little knowl- 
edge of their revolutions, politics, trade and possibly 
geography, their moral and spiritual conditions and 
problems have been slighted or overlooked altogether. 
Hesitation to speak or write concerning their moral 
and spiritual shortcomings on account of a moving 
sense of sins and frailties nearer home has contributed 
still further to apathy. An impression of the strength 
of the Roman Church in Latin America combined with 
an ignorance of its inadequacy to minister to the soul's 
needs in those countries is additional reason for lack 



THE HOME FULCRUM 167 

of interest. Few realize the slight hold that the 
Catholic Church has on the multitudes, the grow- 
ing infidelity among educated men, and the hundreds 
of thousands of unevangelized Indians and the vast 
extent of territory in a land like Brazil, as a single 
example, entirely untouched by either Protestant or 
Romanist. These and eight minor reasons for lack of 
interest in Latin missions were symptomatic of the 
fundamental failure to appreciate spiritual needs and 
values and of a lack of personal experience of the 
impelling power of the gospel of Christ. 

Yet over against this apathy is placed the growing 
interest in Latin-American lands. Political develop- 
ments and even wars and revolutions have forced 
certain problems upon the public attention. Confer- 
ences between Argentina, Brazil, Chile and the United 
States concerning Mexican problems have brought 
these powerful nations of South America to the favor- 
able attention of diplomats and citizens alike. Com- 
merce and trade, affecting the tables and the pocket- 
books of most North Americans to a slight degree at 
least, link North and South. A better mutual under- 
standing is due to visits of eminent statesmen, like 
Ex-President Roosevelt, Lord Bryce and Secretaries 
Bryan and Root, of scientific expeditions and their 
influential heads, and especially of such religious 
leaders as Drs. Mott, Speer and Clark. Then force- 
ful missionaries and secretaries, like Bishops Kin- 
solving and Stuntz and Dr. Harry Guinness, have 
done much within recent years to enlighten and in- 



i68 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

spire their readers and hearers, as they have discussed 
this last land of desire. The northward flowing 
stream of Latin- American students has supplied at 
many centers a group of interpreters of their own 
countrymen, as they have mingled with the great mass 
of their fellows in educational institutions and at col- 
lege Christian conferences. Literature, too, is largely 
responsible for the increasing respect for and interest 
in the peoples and problems of our Latin neighbors. 

Almost universal ignorance as to things Latin- 
American and the consequent apathy concerning them, 
with the slowly awakening interest on the part of a 
few, call for a constructive program of education. 
Arguments for a campaign of instruction as the basis 
of any intelligent scheme of Christian work are not 
far to seek. Commissions I and II had revealed vast 
areas unoccupied and great multitudes unreached by 
the evangelical message. This is what Bishop Oldham 
referred to in the discussion as "the size of the job," 
concerning which he said: "Our people like big 
things, and they are profoundly moved when you put 
before them even the physical meaning of the prob- 
lem. I do not know any congregation in North 
America that does not love to hear that Brazil alone 
is as big as the United States, that there is room in 
its vast territories for new rivers to be discovered, 
even if there continue to be ' rivers of doubt/ They 
are interested to hear of a land so big that you can 
lose everybody in it except a certain ex-President." 
Self-interest also requires this knowledge, since in a 



THE HOME FULCRUM 169 

reflex way Latin-American politics, education, and 
social and religious conditions affect other nations, 
particularly the United States, Helping to solve the 
educational, social and religious problems of those 
countries will augment their peace and prosperity and 
hence increase the stability and wealth of the world. 
As students of Christian efficiency, valuable sugges- 
tions are derivable from an unprejudiced study of the 
failures and successes of the Roman Church in Latin 
America. Do we lack the heroic and self-sacrificing 
in our lives as Christian workers? The life-stories of 
evangelical missionaries, national and foreign, supply 
this inspiration to well-doing. Dr. Grenfell in his 
perilous Labrador ministry is no more stimulating 
than many unsung heroes and heroines of Moravian 
missions in Guiana, than Grubb in his early ex- 
periences in the Paraguayan Chaco, or than the starv- 
ing missionary company headed by Captain Gardiner 
in Tierra del Fuego. As the Great Commission does 
not read, "Go ye into all the world and preach the 
gospel to every creature except the Latin Americans," 
and as they sorely need that gospel, we should have 
in our minds and hearts a bill of particulars that will 
supply the sufficient motive. 

The Commission's report cautions us to bear in 
mind the misleading character of comparative statis- 
tics of numerical need. Thus South America has as 
high a ratio of missionaries to the population as some 
Asiatic countries. Its greater claims are realized only 
when one recalls the sparsity of population and the 



i;o RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

inadequate means of communication there in com- 
parison with those of Japan and India. Nor should 
South America be considered as a unit in such mat- 
ters. Even the one country of Brazil varies greatly 
in its different states. Thus while the republic as a 
whole is said to have one missionary to 90,000 in- 
habitants, in North Brazil there is one to 200,000 in- 
habitants, and these populations are thinly scattered 
over almost interminable stretches of plain, mountain 
and jungle — much of it being almost unequalled in 
its deadly climate. We were also asked to remember 
that Latin-American prices are so much higher in 
most republics that a given sum of money will not 
buy as much as in most mission countries; and, fur- 
ther, that the aesthetic sense of Latins and in some 
sections the climate demand unusually substantial and 
well-built plants. In view of these financial dif- 
ferences, the statement of expenditures by eleven of 
the leading Societies, having work in Latin America 
and also in other parts of the mission field, is some- 
what disappointing. In the year 19 13-14, these 
Societies expended on Latin- American work $1,655,- 
010 while in their other missions the expenditure was 
$10,326,194. That is, they invested in Latin fields a 
little less than one-sixth of the amount sent to other 
lands, though the purchasing power of money was 
far less there than in the other countries. 

A survey, largely statistical, of what was being 
done in the field under consideration, for which the 
home base is responsible, occupied about a fourth of 



THE HOME FULCRUM 171 

the report. There are sixty-five sending Societies 
working for the evangelization of Latin America, 
divided among the sending lands as follows : Canada, 
three; the United States, forty-six; Great Britain, 
twelve; New Zealand, one; international Societies, 
three. These numbers are somewhat misleading to 
the average layman, because they include Societies 
some of which send out missionaries and leave them 
to shift largely for themselves, and others of which 
have resources so small as to be totally unable to do 
any educational or institutional work worthy the 
name. With these sixty-five sending Societies there 
are thirty-seven auxiliary or cooperating, non-sending 
Societies. The seven Latin-American countries in 
which the largest number of sending Societies are at 
work are the following : Argentina, nineteen ; Mexico, 
seventeen; Brazil and Porto Rico, thirteen each; and 
British Guiana and Cuba twelve each ; Central America 
and Porto Rico, sixteen each; Brazil, fifteen; British 
Guiana and Jamaica, thirteen each. 

Some of the financial items are these. The appro- 
priations for Latin America by the largest Boards 
were tabulated for five five-year periods, from 1889 
to 19 1 4 inclusive. The totals of 1889- 1894 and 1909- 
1914 respectively were $3,659,858.23 and $10,565,- 
000.05, an increase in twenty-five years of nearly 
threefold the appropriations of the first five years. 
An analysis of the expenditures in Latin America of 
twenty- four North American Societies shows how 
every dollar contributed is used when subdivided for 



172 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

these purposes: For salaries, 31.8 cts. ; for support 
of native work, 28.5 cts. ; evangelistic work, 14.6 cts. ; 
work among unevangelized Indians, 9.3 cts.; new 
property and school buildings, 7.2 cts.; special work, 
3.7 cts.; medical work, 3.1 cts.; literary work, 1.2 
cts.; and for industrial work, six mills only. 

An attempt to discover what causes had led to large 
gifts to missions in Latin America was only partially 
successful; yet it seemed to indicate that in a majority 
of cases the impulse came from a visit to some of 
those republics. Dr. Chester, in the discussion, stated 
that in the Southern Presbyterian Church three men 
gave about one-twelfth of their Board's entire mis- 
sionary income, and that not one of them had visited 
the fields. Preliminary prayer and then sitting down 
beside them and telling them the facts fully had been 
the means used. A layman of another Church after 
visiting Cuba began a work there which he thus 
describes: "What led me to become interested was 
that I had often heard of this cut-off district east of 
the mountain range, with a population of 25,000 and 
no Protestant force to help them. I promised to 
finance the whole undertaking for a year. I have 
never had a place to stop and have invested to date 
about $39,000 in the work in eastern Cuba." He 
began the first year by providing funds for five chapels 
and five Cuban workers. The administration of the 
mission was left to his Society, of course. 

The home base cares for other than strictly Latin- 
American constituencies in those lands. A very im- 



THE HOME FULCRUM 173 

portant enterprise of this sort is securing ministers for 
churches for English-speaking peoples in port cities. 
Thus the Congress held one of its evening sessions 
in the Union Church of Panama, and was also in- 
debted greatly to its pastor for the manifold services 
rendered to its delegates. In Mexico City also is a 
Union Church aided by the North American Com- 
mittee on Anglo-American Communities Abroad. An- 
other exceedingly important work of the same Com- 
mittee is a "Tourist Guide, Missions and English Ser- 
vices, Latin America,' ' prepared by a committee of 
which Dr. Speer is chairman and which has been dis- 
tributed to the number of about ten thousand copies 
for the use of travelers and immigrants to those 
republics. 

Latin-American students in the sending countries 
constitute a most important opportunity for dwellers 
at the home base. In 191 5 it was estimated that two 
thousand of them were studying in sixty- four institu- 
tions of the United States and Canada. They seek an 
education for the sake of service to their home lands ; 
and when returning thither, they interpret in daily 
life and conversation those experiences that have im- 
pressed them most deeply. They come from wealthy 
and influential families, for the most part, and return 
to become leaders in commerce, in the professions and 
as captains of industry. These ambitious and gifted 
men appreciate to the full the genuine friendship of 
Christian people and the fellowship found in Christian 
institutions and homes. The early days and months 



174 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

of their stay in a new land are the critical ones, and 
Christian help should not be lacking then especially. 
Sympathy and friendship will react favorably as they 
return home, while neglect, ridicule and harshness will 
be a distinct hindrance to the evangelical cause in 
Latin America. Though societies like Corda Fratres 
and Cosmopolitan Clubs are very helpful here, the 
Young Men's Christian Association, particularly its 
Student Department, can impart a more warmly Chris- 
tian touch than those excellent secular organizations. 
Happily, it has been continually aggressive in its con- 
tact and helpfulness to those in colleges of the United 
States, through its Committee to Promote Friendly 
Relations among Foreign Students. 

Home base plans for the promotion of prayer for 
Latin lands are various, though not as generally em- 
ployed as could be desired. Prayer calendars are the 
most commonly used among these helps, and when 
supplemented by special leaflets for specific Latin fields, 
they have aided the cause. Three Societies report the 
existence of leagues of prayer for missions. These 
organizations communicate by letter or printed page 
calls for prayer in which special needs and workers 
are mentioned. What has proved helpful to the Con- 
gregationalists and the Northern Baptists and Meth- 
odists should be more widely used in this cause. 

The Commission found many suggestions in the 
experience of North American workers as it investi- 
gated the methods and means employed at present in 
developing an interest in Latin-American missions. In 



THE HOME FULCRUM 175 

local congregations sermons and special addresses 
may be effectively used to bring the field before large 
audiences. It could not recommend strongly the use 
of general and church periodicals for the purpose of 
promotion, since they have little that is to the point. 
Even The Missionary Review of the World had diffi- 
culty in securing suitable articles on these lands. 
Prayer-meetings seldom include that part of the world 
in the program of subjects. Even mission study 
classes have done relatively little for Latin America. 
Sunday schools and young people's societies report 
scant attention paid to this subject. Women's mis- 
sionary societies are more alive to the importance of 
Latin countries than the Church at large. Through 
special programs, appropriate leaflets and attractive 
articles they acquaint their constituencies concerning 
conditions and the work being done. 

In our day of great missionary conferences one 
would think that through such channels at least much 
might be done to promote the cause. Yet with the 
exception of the Presbyterians, Methodists and South- 
ern Baptists, who place it on the same level as other 
fields, as does the Laymen's Missionary Movement, 
even South America is still the "Neglected Continent." 
The greatest exception to this general rule is the Mis- 
sionary Education Movement which provides for its 
adequate presentation on its influential platforms. 

This last named organization is foremost also in 
providing a literature of promotion for Latin America. 
Hitherto it had provided study text-books for South 



176 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

America, which have been used extensively and 
profitably by the Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist 
young people. Its program for 19 16-17 surpasses all 
previous efforts, as the list includes nearly half a dozen 
books for study use, besides the full report of the 
Panama Congress and the present volume, to be used 
for reference. The women's Central Committee on 
the United Study of Missions has sold about sixty 
thousand copies of Dr. and Mrs. Clark's "The Gospel 
in Latin Lands," and the Council of Women for Home 
Missions report between one hundred and fifty and 
two hundred thousand books on Latin-American and 
Home Missions as used for promotion purposes. The 
Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions 
makes the cause prominent not only on its quadrennial 
Convention platform, but also in its sectional meetings 
and in the presentation of fields in colleges and uni- 
versities. Through six of its own volumes and six 
published by the Missionary Education Movement its 
study classes have gotten an intimate knowledge of 
Latin fields. Class enrolment showed for nine years 
an attendance ranging from forty-four to over three 
thousand annually. That such studies are not in vain 
is suggested by the fact that of over five thousand 
student volunteers sailing between 1907-14 inclusive, 
eight hundred and sixty-two went to Latin America. 
Other organizations furthering missions in Latin 
America are the great Bible Societies through their 
periodicals and platform presentation of Bible work; 
the general Young Men's Christian Association 



THE HOME FULCRUM 177 

through public addresses, publications, photographs 
and reports; the indirectly helpful propaganda of the 
Pan-American Union with its palatial headquarters in 
Washington; and the conference at Lake Mohonk, 
which includes Latin lands in its program, as also 
Clark University's lectures and conferences. 

Methods for attracting attention and imparting the 
desired information and inspiration, in addition to 
those already mentioned, are both varied and ingen- 
ious. Maps, pictures, stereopticon talks, dramatic pre- 
sentations and even pageants have been employed for 
such purposes. Ten Boards have made special pro- 
vision for interesting children. 

Once more the Commission went through the cate- 
gories in reply to the question, What measures are re- 
quired to secure adequate support of Christian work in 
Latin America? In brief the answer is, Do all that 
you have done heretofore, with greater energy, with 
enlarging conceptions and with fuller cooperation. 
Prayer again led the van, and ten suggestions for 
making intercession more effective were noted. The 
ninth was new and worthy of reproducing : "The pub- 
lication in a magazine, or a circular letter to members 
of prayer groups, of answers to prayer in the fields 
of Christian work in Latin America should be ar- 
ranged as an assurance to faith and an aid to prayers 
of thanksgiving." The first one was also important, 
urging missionaries to send to the home base lists of 
specific objects of prayer to be printed for general 
and for private use. 



178 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

Anent the portrayal of the spiritual needs of Latin 
countries, the importance of humility and a recogni- 
tion of similar weaknesses in the sending countries was 
put very happily. That section concludes with a state- 
ment made on the subject by a friend of the cause, 
who writes : "I do not believe in anti-Catholic prop- 
aganda here or in South America, except it be full 
of love. Place emphasis first on the fact that fifty 
per cent, of the thinking men of South America are 
not in full sympathy with the Roman Catholic Church 
and its teaching. If their own Church does not at- 
tract them, we should endeavor to do so. Emphasize, 
secondly, that many of their altruistic men are enemies 
of religion, because they want to help their people to 
better things, and they believe religion is hindering. 
If they feel thus, their own Church cannot help them. 
We must do so. A patient process of education, such 
as we have used to overcome general missionary in- 
difference at the home base, ought to be undertaken, but 
on the lines indicated just above/' 

Brotherly relations with Latin Americans can be 
strengthened through church leadership in communities 
where they are temporarily residing, particularly in 
large university centers; through a free interchange 
of thought and of directed observation in lands where 
Latins or Anglo-Saxons are strangers ; through intro- 
ductions given by missionaries to merchants or 
students going abroad, thus securing them friends and 
helpers in need; through a union of Societies for pro- 
moting friendly relations; through personal calls by 



THE HOME FULCRUM 179 

missionaries on furlough upon persons from Latin 
America; through inviting students and other com- 
petent speakers to address various classes upon their 
country and its present outlook — a suggestion help- 
ful enough, if the speaker has a facile use of English, 
but harmful to the cause with a halting, indistinct 
speaker; through a study with Latins of problems 
facing them at home which find partial solution in the 
experience of other countries; and through the pro- 
motion of personal religious work with those ready 
for it. All this should be done in the spirit suggested 
by Dr. Mott : "That race will be most blessed which 
gives its best with generous hand, not in fear and 
not with ulterior motives, but with sincere recognition 
of all that is good in others and with unselfish motives ; 
and which in all its intercourse tries to see with the 
other's eyes and to sympathize with the other's 
hopes." 

Though statements concerning literature had be- 
come repetitious, the emphasis on providing material 
that has a human interest and written in a style 
which is attractive is most important. "The Com- 
mission believes that every Christian worker entering 
Latin America for life service should give considera- 
tion to literary style and force in writing, and that 
the faculties of observation should be exercised in- 
telligently and persistently, based on a progressive 
study of conditions at the home base and the best 
methods of appealing to the imagination and will 
through the printed page." Some exceedingly good 



180 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

hints relating to photography as helpful to the literary 
and platform propaganda, and as requiring previous 
mastery of the art, might have been taken from the 
chairman's own experiences in successful field photog- 
raphy. 

The plea for more frequent and better coached dep- 
utations from the home base to Latin fields was 
most timely and helpful. It might have been more 
closely linked with what is said of publicity, as one 
main function of deputations is to use information 
and inspiration derived from missionary visitation to 
stir the churches and the general public. Yet the 
Commission had a wider objective in that section of 
its report, as too little systematic work has been done 
looking toward the most effective publication of 
dynamic material. A development of the Southern 
News Bureau, or a broader scheme in the special in- 
terests of Latin America, would do much for the 
cause of evangelical missions. 

A last word was said as to education in matters 
Latin- American, especially those affecting spiritual and 
moral issues. In twelve concise propositions — though 
two are long — th» best that can be done through that 
medium was set forth most practically. If facts are 
the fuel of missionary fires, and if reading and study 
are the brush-hooks and axes for making them usable, 
this section alone is worth much. 

As only one session was devoted to the "Home 
Base," and as even that period was shortened by other 
business, the discussion was less full than usual. Dr. 



THE HOME FULCRUM 181 

Browning reminded defenders of missions that the 
objection against work in South America could be met 
by Roman Catholicism's best representatives who 
would probably reiterate what a bishop of that Church 
said to an evangelical missionary when he came to 
Chile : "I am glad to welcome you to this land. We 
cannot manage it. Moreover, we have lost our hold 
on the population. If you can bring any inspiration 
to our people, I for one shall be glad to welcome you 
to a part in our work." In that republic there are 
about seven hundred priests of whom three hundred 
are in teaching or other positions, leaving four 
hundred for the regular church work of almost four 
millions, or nearly ten thousand people to a single 
priest. As Chile is better provided than many other 
sections, one Catholic preaching priest for ten 
thousand of the population is perhaps a safe estimate 
for all Latin America. He certainly needs the help 
welcomed by this enlightened bishop. 

Bishop Lambuth urged the home base to embrace 
in its policy the possibility of every person's hearing 
the gospel, and that mainly through the national 
Churches, working out from all centers of twenty 
thousand people where a strong missionary should be 
resident. He pleaded also for a vertical as well as a 
horizontal occupation of the field, — for a plan that 
would reach various classes, high and low alike. 

Bishop McConnell desired to emphasize for the con- 
sideration of friends at home the words of Phillips 
Brooks, said of Japan, — that it is the business of the 



i82 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

Christian Church to take the Lord Jesus to these lands 
and leave Him there, that there may be worked out 
any form of Christianity that may prove to be fitted 
best for the people of that country. 

The Rev. Stuart McNairn spoke of the viewpoint of 
the British public which criticises missions in Latin 
lands. Again and again the clergy had said to him : 
"The Roman Catholic Church, our sister Church, is 
already in possession of the field. It is mere im- 
pertinence to attempt to work in that field." His re- 
sponse to them was this : "Whatever the Church of 
Rome feels about it, the people of South America 
want us and need us. Every republic in that continent 
has altered its constitution in order that Protestant 
evangelical work may be carried on within its borders." 
English laymen objectors were reminded that British 
bondholders were getting millions a week in South 
American dividends, and that it was time that they 
should do something for that continent. 

Bishop Brown told two personal incidents to illus- 
trate the importance of prayer in Latin missions — the 
power upon his own life in Brazil of old Bishop 
White's daily intercession for him, and the picture of 
a layman's home in which he found all the members of 
a family, even the three-year old boy, praying for 
definite persons on the mission field, each choosing 
his or her own missionary. 

The home base is where the army of gospel con- 
quest is to be recruited for Latin America. Once more 
the challenge rang out for many and well-prepared 



THE HOME FULCRUM 183 

volunteers. The ministry has the key to many young 
lives in its hands. The minister can open doors of 
vision through which lands of the Southern Cross 
will burst upon expectant eyes in a way to allure 
young men and women to those countries. High stand- 
ards are required for such fields, and a better prep- 
aration is requisite than for some other mission coun- 
tries. The demand is likewise a many-sided one, 
calling for varied talents and gifts. 

It was not at all surprising that the last paragaph 
of the printed report presented the Commission's chal- 
lenge of enlargement and reenforcement, — stronger 
work in old stations, extension to new centers, the 
entry of Societies not represented hitherto in this 
part of the world field. This program of enlargement 
and the materialization of plans looking toward 
greater cooperation and hence less waste, the proposed 
establishment of evangelical churches in unoccupied 
regions and among aboriginal races as the citadels of 
spiritual conquistadores, can but hearten the home 
base and supply the field forces with the needed sinews 
of war and the hearts of brave men and women de- 
manded for Latin America's uplift. 

Though not included in the report of this Commis- 
sion, a discussion of the important theme, "Training 
and Efficiency of Missionaries," is summarized here, 
since it is a matter entrusted by the missionary 
Societies of the United States and Canada to the 
Board of Missionary Preparation. Wednesday after- 
noon was devoted to its presentation by Director Frank 



184 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

K. Sanders, Ph.D., of that Board. He recapitulated 
the history of the organization from its establishment 
by the Foreign Missions Conference of North America 
in 19 12, with an account of five objectives already 
accomplished or in prospect : ( 1 ) The production of 
varied literature for missionary candidates, beginning 
with the investigation of certain types of service and 
ascertaining the most effective preparation for such 
tasks; (2) a similar investigation of the six great 
fields, — including Latin America whose report was 
prepared by Dr. Speer and his committee, — with 
definite suggestions as to how to prepare for each ; 
(3) the study of missionary administration quite 
largely from the candidate's point of view; (4) the 
general service of a candidate secretary at large, so well 
fulfilled by Dr. Sanders; and (5) the standardiza- 
tion of institutions in respect to missionary teaching 
and the preparation of candidates. What he sought 
of members of the Congress was their practical sug- 
gestions as to preparation for Latin America, which 
the commissions had only occasionally and briefly 
touched upon. 

From Cuba came the quick response, through Senor 
Gonzalez : "We expect all the foreign missionaries to 
know our history, to know our society, to know our- 
selves. The more a missionary studies all the factors 
that have produced the Latin civilization and the Latin 
way of thinking and the way the Latins have of ex- 
pressing themselves, and how they came to have their 
particular institutions, the better will it be for him. 



THE HOME FULCRUM 185 

. . . It is true that every missionary has to preach 
Christ and Him crucified. But the more points of con- 
tact you have, the more open ways there are by which 
you can preach that Christ and that Christ crucified, 
the better. And then we expect you will sympathize 
with us in all our trials, tribulations and troubles. We 
expect the missionary will preach the gospel but that 
he will never preach American Christianity. ... I 
mean the work must be done as Paul did his, as I 
understand history. . . . Let him bring Christ and 
let Christ and the gospel bring the national type; and 
that type will grow, and will grow more easily and 
strongly and will have deeper root in the public con- 
science." 

In part of a paragraph from Professor Monteverde's 
address are suggestions as to two classes to be reached, 
who must be prepared for. "In order to speak to 
those who are skeptical, one must be familiar with all 
that which we call materialism. He must know who 
the great writers are in this field, and he must know 
their works. And when it comes to speaking to 
Roman Catholics, he must know their doctrines and 
how they came to be. He must also know how to 
defend himself from their attacks. He must know 
the character of the Latin American. He must 
realize the necessity of being very careful with the 
words he uses. He must remember how sensitive 
these people are. And with all such high ideals, he 
must have a social nature and be able to meet them 
on their own ground." Thirty others, nine being 



i86 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

Latin Americans and five of the thirty being women 
delegates, spoke upon the studies, linguistic and other- 
wise, to be pursued, upon the varied forms of work to 
be done and upon the conservation of time and health 
that the newly arrived missionary may most efficiently 
carry out his mission. It is possible to add only one 
other paragraph from a delegate who represented 
the more conservative element in the Congress. 

This man, the Rev. Eduardo C. Pereira, Dr. Speer 
characterizes as the "writer of the best Portuguese 
grammar used in Brazil, a scholar and a Christian 
statesman." He said in part: "There are several 
requisites for a successful missionary in Latin 
America. First, he must not forget his literary and 
theological courses. The Brazilian people will not 
respect the man who does not know ; they respect only 
the man who does know. The second requisite is 
that he shall not be too much of a modernist; he must 
not be full of modern things. The churches want 
the pure, full gospel. A third requisite is that he 
must never be proud or arrogant. He is to live among 
a very susceptible people." It was evident from all of 
these speakers that the man or woman going as a 
missionary to Latin America must be inwardly 
strongly spiritual, outwardly social and tactful, in- 
tellectually fully furnished for every demand, and 
with an upward look and grip that will enable God's 
ambassador to be sure of knowing His will and of 
feeling His strength coursing through the life. 



IX 

UNITY'S FRATERNAL PROGRAM 

Commission VIII on "Cooperation and the Promo- 
tion of Unity/' with the Rev. Charles L. Thompson, 
D.D., of the Home Missions Council, New York as 
chairman, had a subject which had been trenched upon 
by every other commission to the extent not only of 
having "stolen its thunder," but of having depleted 
its clouds of most of their rain. It was thus the 
parallel of Commission I. As that discussion of sur- 
vey and occupation had necessitated a broad preview 
of most of the ground to be covered later by the 
other commissions, so this one gave the backward 
look and served as a review of certain points in each 
of the seven preceding it. Yet its more or less 
repetitious character constituted its strength. Each 
chairman had shown during the preceding days how 
fundamental united hearts and cooperating heads 
and hands were for the ideal carrying out of the 
operations which his commission had in charge. Now 
came the massing of hitherto isolated facts whose joint 
impression was more convincing and convicting, more 
inspiring and impelling, than had been single units 
presented one by one. Cooperation and unity as 
presented at Panama were like the pillars Jachin and 

187 



188 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

Boaz which Solomon set up before his temple. Their 
names may have been those of the two donors. Yet 
their probable significance in Hebrew correctly de- 
scribes the functions of united cooperation, as God 
seems to be declaring to His Church to-day, "He 
shall establish ,, — unity, and "In it is strength" — 
cooperation. 

Occupancy of the field and delimitation of territory 
as helpful thereto were considered at the outset. Com- 
mission I had displayed its maps on three sides of the 
Congress hall — great stretches of territory with only 
here and there a center of evangelical light and power. 
In only one of these, that of Porto Rico, could one 
see how the thirteen Societies were located geographi- 
cally; even in that case the wall map did not contain 
denominational dividing lines such as appear in "The 
Latin American Tourist Guide," page 32. If this map 
suggests the political gerrymander, it should be re- 
membered that when American Societies entered that 
island, the four pioneer Boards sent each a represen- 
tative to Dr. Thompson's office, where they knelt 
around the map and prayed themselves into positions 
that would not permit of friction and duplication of 
effort. The present map, as altered by the later entry 
of nine other Societies has received its apparent gerry- 
mandering intricacies through agreement among 
brethren, after the example of Abraham and Lot. 

The same could not be said of certain other sec- 
tions of Latin America; though thus far occupation 
has been on so limited a scale, that duplication and 



UNITY'S FRATERNAL PROGRAM 189 

friction are not very noticeable, Brazil being the most 
open to this weakness. Indeed, Porto Rico raised this 
query, in spite of the argument that as part of the 
United States it might claim a larger number of mis- 
sionaries than other portions of Latin America : "The 
question emerges whether the wants of the field could 
not now be met by a smaller number; and if so, the 
difficult following question will be as to how to secure 
this adjustment. To effect the withdrawal of forces 
now on the field implies advanced federation ; and yet 
it is doubtless one of the present demands of coopera- 
tion that there be such a statesmanlike view of the 
entire field, that a redistribution of forces may be 
effected without jeopardizing the fraternal relations 
of the denominations to each other. . . . Thus if 
too many Societies are operating in Porto Rico, there 
are certainly too few in Central America. Denomina- 
tions withdrawing from Porto Rico and extending 
their work in Mexico and Central America could not 
be regarded as having lost prestige or opportunity. 
They will only be using both more strategically and, 
by combining with other Societies in the general ar- 
rangement, be giving a final view of the solidarity of 
Protestant missions." 

Turning from questionable sections, the Commis- 
sion suggests that the very fact that a territory is 
sparsely occupied makes this the time when delimita- 
tion of it can be decided upon most easily. In that 
case, the entrance of later Societies would be by ar- 
rangement with the original Boards. About the un- 



ipo RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

reached Indians there could be no question, especially 
those dwelling in barbarism in mountains and forests, 
wholly without God and without hope. Though living 
in wretchedness, they are not without capacity for use- 
ful lives and worthy citizenship. There is little pros- 
pect that any possible extension of Roman Catholic 
missions will prove adequate to meet their needs. As 
separate evangelical missions, touching here and there 
a wandering tribe, cannot overtake the task, some con- 
certed plan seems to be the only solution of this 
problem. 

A common understanding and usage, rather than 
cooperation, is what is called for under Commission 
II on the Message. If to people accustomed to a 
united Church, we can show a faith which through 
all its diversity has attained a higher unity of love, 
yet still maintaining liberty of thought, evangelicals 
will speak to sympathetic ears and will find the way 
to open minds and hearts. The chairman's closing 
presentation of the Commission's view was devoted 
largely to this message. It must be distinctly evan- 
gelical; it must be spoken positively, constructively, 
tenderly; the message must not stand alone, but find 
its incarnation in missionaries' lives that truly enter 
into Latin- American experiences; it must go into 
lowly homes, weeping with the tearful and healing 
as it goes. Does anyone inquire as to emphasis, — 
whether the message to the individual or its applica- 
tion to life, to social or moral conditions, — Dr. Thomp- 
son's reply is the inquiry made of the birds flying 



UNITY'S FRATERNAL PROGRAM 191 

above Ancon Hill : "Which wing do you emphasize 
in your flight? The finest chance for cooperation is 
in the social ministries of the gospel. Only common 
endeavors can lift communities. Union movements 
in matters eleemosynary, education and for moral re- 
form, are absolutely essential. ,, 

Cooperation in education was too obviously desir- 
able to warrant anything more than a roll-call of 
republics to see how far it had advanced. Argentina 
thought it too early for union movements except in 
a theological school. Brazil's three mission colleges 
agreed that standardized courses, examinations and 
discipline are desirable. The union of Presbyterians 
and Methodists in the theological seminary at Campi- 
nas was an inspiration, present and prospective. Two 
seminaries were suggested as being better than one, 
however, both to be union but to be located so as to 
meet better the needs of the vast area. One union uni- 
versity in Brazil was desired for all Portuguese-speak- 
ing students. Chile is beginning a union Bible train- 
ing school and might work toward a union university. 
Cuba pleaded sectional and racial feeling as a reason 
for little interest in cooperative educational plans. 
Mexico, in revolutions oft, is nevertheless forward in 
this matter and has in Coyoacan College a joint institu- 
tion for Presbyterians North and South, while North- 
ern and Southern Baptists have a plan arranged for 
joint academic and theological institutions. In Peru 
little is achieved, but there is an acknowledged need of 
common courses and methods in their schools. Porto 



192 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

Rico finds help in United States schools of lower 
grades, and in theological education it has the Presby- 
terians and United Brethren linked up in a union 
Seminary to which other denominations also send 
students. As previously recorded, there is a general 
desire for cooperation in higher and highest educa- 
tional work, with the apex in one or more Christian 
universities for Latin republics. 

Even more unanimous is the dissatisfaction with 
the present dearth of dynamic evangelical literature, 
and with the plethora of feeble denominational period- 
icals in place of a very few of the highest class. The 
Commission quotes an illustration from Dr. Arthur 
Brown's "Unity and Missions" as suggestive of a 
reason for union publications. An Anglican bishop 
conceived the idea of a union catechism. He there- 
fore called a meeting of all the missionaries in that 
region and proposed an interdenominational committee 
to prepare such a booklet, suggesting that everything 
upon which they agreed should be put in the body of 
the catechism, while subjects upon which there was 
disagreement should be relegated to an appendix. 
When the work was completed, all were impressed 
with the strength of the catechism and with the weak- 
ness of the appendix. Eight of the Latin republics 
report some progress in union publication and a com- 
mon longing for improvement through cooperation. 
From Colombia comes a cry for union in producing 
apologetic works. "The supply of such literature is 
inadequate, and its character is a disgrace to Protest- 



UNITY'S FRATERNAL PROGRAM 193 

ant civilization. French free thought is twenty times 
better presented to the readers of Colombia than is 
evangelical faith. Books on free thought are more 
numerous, are cheaper and are written in good 
Spanish. A catalogue of such antichristian literature 
should be obtained and the efficient answers from an 
evangelical point of view should be sought out. We 
have a limited amount of really excellent controversial 
literature, but where shall we go for a first-class 
modern apologetic against the ravages of free thought 
and atheism ?" 

Less was said of the need of cooperation in work 
for women than upon its relation to other subjects on 
the Congress program. Mrs. Westfall went farther 
than others had done in arguing for non-duplication 
of women's schools and of other forms of endeavor. 
The Societies should make a study of all that is done in 
a given field before deciding upon plans. If there was 
one kindergarten already in operation in a center, no 
other should be started by a second Society, and so 
of nurses' training schools, etc. By correlation, after 
a careful study of the situation, waste of inadequate 
funds, of workers and of energy would be obviated, and 
at the same time a well-rounded provision for meeting 
the varied needs of womanhood would be made. 

From many angles the desirability of having a 
common understanding of certain items ecclesiastical 
was seen. The evangelical Church in Latin fields 
seems to be behind that of other mission lands in this 
particular. Discipline varies, and with it spring up 



194 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

abuses where members migrate from one denomination 
or local church to another. This is especially noted 
in Central America, where the number of independent 
missions with lax rules is greater than that of regular 
Boards. In Porto Rico the interchange of members 
is so arranged that little difficulty arises from migra- 
tion. The Baptists, Episcopalians and Lutherans are 
not included in this arrangement, for obvious yet 
regrettable reasons. In not a few countries differences 
in salaries paid Latin workers causes trouble. As Sec- 
retary Cook puts it: "When we realize that in one 
of these great Latin fields we have been so subsidizing 
the Church as to hinder the development of the spirit 
of independence and self-support and we begin to 
tighten up the screws a little, there are always pastors 
who immediately move over to another Communion, 
perhaps of the same faith and order, where the grass 
is a little longer, the pasturage a little better ; and when 
that Communion puts on the screws, they simply move 
on to another where the subsidy is more ample." Dr. 
Cook's opinion of such men was revealed in a case 
narrated where a pastor had gone from his own 
denomination through two others until he found him- 
self with the Baptists. "I ask the question, 'Where 
will he go when the leaves the Baptists V Nobody 
seemed to know, but one brother very sweetly sug- 
gested that he would go to Heaven. Well, if he goes 
to Heaven after that process, he gets there by the 
skin of his teeth." 
Little was said about cooperation at the home base, 



UNITY'S FRATERNAL PROGRAM 195 

and little was needed after Commission VII's full dis- 
cussion. Insistence upon the principle that coopera- 
tion must be carried out both at the home base and 
abroad, if it is to be effective, was necessary in the 
Commission's view. Its possibility on a large and 
profitable scale was proved by the Missionary Educa- 
tion Movement which for years has been eminently suc- 
cessful through the cooperation of many Boards rep- 
resented in its Committee of Twenty-eight. The Con- 
tinuation Committee of the Edinburgh Conference of 
1910 is a wider proof of the helpfulness of inter- 
national cooperation in Missions; while the Panama 
Congress itself met because of mutual agreements and 
cooperative participation. Such examples should be 
multiplied. 

Two relatively new points were mentioned at which 
cooperation was desirable. The first had to do with 
the co working of evangelical Churches and govern- 
ment officials and institutions. Argentina already aids 
Mr. Morris's schools, while Bolivia and Brazil give 
subsidies to missionary institutions to a limited extent. 
Mr. Grubb's work in the Paraguayan Chaco is mapped 
officially as being under government patronage, and he 
is regarded as the commissioner of those Indian ter- 
ritories. As has been seen, the success of the Piedras 
Negras Institute in Mexico is in large part due to 
official recognition and help, as is that of the People's 
Institute in Rio de Janeiro. Chile subsidizes mission- 
ary schools for Indians. Porto Rican workers co- 
operate with the United States in sanitary and anti- 



196 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

tuberculosis measures and in the suppression of nui- 
sances and immoralities. Cordial cooperation between 
the Young Men's Christian Association and the 
government in Uruguay and Mexico suggests the 
desirability of further missionary participation in 
enterprises looking toward the physical, social and 
intellectual and moral betterment of the Latin- Amer- 
ican citizen. 

A second more intangible but quite as important 
point of desirable contact between evangelical missions 
and the Latins is in the appreciation of national ideals 
and conformity thereto, when possible. Thus in no 
other mission field, with the possible exception of 
Japan, is nationalistic feeling so intense as in some of 
the southern countries, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and 
Porto Rico in particular. This manifests itself 
among evangelicals chiefly in their desire for self- 
direction in church life and government. This aspira- 
tion by many is considered to have been the funda- 
mental reason for the lamentable division which oc- 
curred in the Presbyterian Church in Brazil several 
years ago. Neither of the two bodies resulting from 
the schism is under the control of extra-national 
organizations. That this self-direction inspires the 
Church to new endeavor and greater sacrifice is proved 
by the fact that the larger of these bodies received 
last year more new members by confession of faith 
than ever before, amounting to over ten percent, of 
its membership. One of these self-supporting congre- 
gations, inspired by the spirit of nationalism as well as 



UNITY'S FRATERNAL PROGRAM 197 

by deep religious conviction, gave $15,000 in 19 15 
for its local and missionary work. 

The eventual goal of a national evangelical Church, 
in place of the present denominational divisions, is al- 
ready dimly discernible in some of the republics, and 
also in Porto Rico where the desire is most pro- 
nounced. With the example of one great Roman 
Catholic Church always before them, Latins are prone 
to feel as described in a sentence written by Professor 
Giovanni Luzzi: "Accustomed as they are to the 
great idea of the unity of the Church, they have no 
sympathy with our accentuated denominationalism." 
Another motive for nationalistic independence has 
manifested itself in Mexico and seems to actuate cer- 
tain pastors who will have nothing to do with Boards 
from the United States, identifying them with hated 
foreign invasion. They have appealed to the patriot- 
kin of the people, and also to their prejudices, with 
some success. Naturally this nationalistic spirit among 
Latin Americans is found more frequently among the 
better educated, who also happen to be most influential. 
It is plainly desirable that this spirit should not be 
allowed to separate the missionaries from national 
Churches; instead, without trying to force denomina- 
tionalism upon them, this element of national pride 
may be used as an incentive toward a united, self- 
supporting and self -propagating Church, with liberty 
of thought, yet united in Christ. Multiplied evidences 
convinced the Commission that if the appeal were 
made to loyalty to the Word of God and to the 



198 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

nation, rather than to the denomination, many strong 
leaders would accept the challenge. Not a few share 
the conviction of an energetic young worker for the 
evangelical cause who declined to enter the Church, 
saying: "I feel that it would narrow my influence, 
if I joined any of the denominations. But just 
organize a national Church, and I will be the first to 
join." 

The suggestion of cooperation with Roman Catho- 
lics, as set forth in the report presented tentatively to 
the Congress at Panama, met with serious objection on 
the field. It was modified to read as follows : "When 
the inevitable question is raised, whether at any point 
or in any form we may expect cooperation with the 
Roman Catholic Church, the usual reply is that such 
an expectation is hopeless. Moreover, in view of the 
position of the Roman Catholic Church toward the 
evangelical work, the Commission feels that any sug- 
gestion on our part of cooperation with that Church 
as an organization is likely to be misunderstood 
and to provoke responses that would tend to defeat 
the irenic purposes we have in our approach to all in- 
dividual members of that Communion who may be 
willing to cooperate with us in any branch of our mis- 
sionary activities." With respect to this change of 
statement, Dr. Thompson said in his closing address 
for the Commission: "In response to a general de- 
mand from the field, we have modified our report so 
that it declares that there is not now any hope of 
cooperation of any kind, or in any degree, with the 



UNITY'S FRATERNAL PROGRAM 199 

Roman Catholic Church as an organization. . . . 
We accept it as a present fact ; we do not accept it as 
an ultimate fact. It is not even now a fact every- 
where. When Cardinal Farley occupies the platform 
with Bishop Greer and other evangelicals in New 
York to promote some civic or social reform, it is a 
declaration that some time such a scene may be wit- 
nessed in Buenos Aires, or Rio de Janeiro. We even 
dare to cherish the hope of an ultimate union of 
Christendom. We do not believe in a perpetual post- 
ponement of an answer to Christ's prayer." 

When evidences of unity and the desire for its fur- 
ther promotion had been hurtling in from all the Com- 
missions and they had been overshot by Commission 
VIII's combination columbiad, the logical demand was 
for some provision whereby the campaign for 
cooperation and unity might be made effective. Two 
plans were urged by the Commission, and the best 
one of all was supplied by a later action of the Con- 
gress. The convening of interdenominational con- 
ferences could not be questioned as a most valuable 
aid; for was not the Panama gathering on Ancon 
Hill daily and hourly demonstrating its fusing power ? 
Reports from a number of Latin republics testified to 
the existence and great value of union meetings, special 
and general in their objectives, which are being held 
regularly. Their success without a carefully wrought 
out program indicated that after the holding of the 
post-Congress regional conferences, permanent and 
better coordinated gatherings would become a regular 



200 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

feature of Latin America's evangelical program, one 
of whose most useful results would inevitably be a 
better acquaintance and more effective team-work. 
The deepening of the spiritual life would doubtless 
follow, no matter what the special object of any con- 
ference might be. 

The unifying force of prayer was equally em- 
phasized. History and personal experience have 
shown its ability to meet just such needs as con- 
front missionaries to Latin lands. The delicacy 
and magnitude of the task are altogether baffling 
without that wisdom which is promised where there 
is faith and no wavering. It creates a helpful 
atmosphere within which men can plan and work 
better than when it is absent and the air is heavy 
and lifeless. Prayer offered for others is "like 
a gun that kicks," to borrow Beecher's simile; "part 
of the force of the powder carries the bullet straight 
to its mark, while the remainder reacts upon yourself." 
But if the two or three gathered together in Christ's 
name, with Him in the midst, can effect miracles, how 
much more powerful would be a general prayer move- 
ment in Latin America's behoof? And so the Com- 
mission suggested a permanent annual day of united 
thanksgiving and intercession for those great re- 
publics, both on the fields and in the sending coun- 
tries. It further recommended the preparation of a 
prayer or series of prayers for unity, one of which may 
be used in the regular worship of Sunday morning 
throughout the Latin-American evangelical Churches. 



UNITY'S FRATERNAL PROGRAM 201 

Like the Commission on "Home Base," it called for 
the publication of a prayer calendar, to be used daily 
in homes and at private devotions. Prayer circles 
in large cities where the interest warrants could be 
held as occasion demanded. Differences between 
variant families of Christians and the urgency of 
pressing needs alike call for united supplication. 
"Rival sects," writes Professor Toy, "lose sight of 
their differences in the presence of needs that drive 
them to God for help. Prayer is a religious unifier — 
communion with the Deity is an individual experience 
in which all men stand on common ground, where 
ritual and dogmatic accessories tend to fade or to 
disappear." The Congress itself proved the efficacy 
of united prayer. 

But the third and best means of promoting unity 
and cooperation in Latin-American missions was 
the decision arrived at on Friday afternoon when the 
Congress voted to recommend that the Committee on 
Cooperation in Latin America be enlarged and re- 
constituted as a consultative and advisory body, with 
North American and European sections acting 
separately at present. The amended Section VI of 
the resolution reads as follows : "That the American 
and Canadian sections should, as may be desired by the 
cooperating Boards, take steps promptly to give effect 
to the findings of the various Commissions in the light 
of the discussions of the Congress, so far as the 
cooperation of the missionary agencies of the United 
States and Canada are concerned." As more than 



202 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

three-fifths of the missionary force are sent by 
Societies in Canada and the United States which 
already are practically one in matters pertaining to 
the lands concerned, this means prompt action looking 
toward efficiency and cooperation. To make that the 
more speedily effective, the various sectional con- 
ferences mentioned in Chapter XI scattered immedi- 
ately on the adjournment of the Congress to consult 
and decide in regional groups what was desirable to 
do and to send their findings to the Committee just 
constituted for its action and to the Boards concerned 
for their endorsement. 

Though everything looks favorable for the future 
of Latin- American cooperation, the reader should 
remember that to change long-standing policies and to 
readjust existing relations, to exchange plants and 
constituencies, and above all to reconcile the home sup- 
porters to interdenominational plans, will call for 
patience and forbearance. A tiny rift in the lute, in- 
terrupting the harmony of the Congress, was dis- 
covered at a special meeting of those interested in 
Mexico and the progress of plans decided upon by 
the Cincinnati Conference of 19 14 for that republic. 
It there appeared that the decisions made by the 
Boards in the United States had in a few cases been 
misunderstood and had given rise to bitterness on the 
ground of denominations having been "sold out" to 
others in whose polity those thus disposed of had no 
interest. Probably political animosity toward the 
United States was partly responsible for this feeling. 



UNITY'S FRATERNAL PROGRAM 203 

More than at any other session of the Congress did 
the delegates lose their dead-earnest solemnity, when 
half a dozen of the speakers for this Commission 
argued their points by humorous illustrations, or as 
apt parallels were quoted. Thus Dr. Vance showed 
the element in human nature that must be met in any 
cooperative reduction of forces by the story of a 
negro minister of Orange, N. J., who replied to the 
question as to whether there were not too many 
colored churches there already: "Yes, entirely too 
many, as we have nine. We really need only two, 
mine and one more." Of another sort was his ac- 
count of the Matt H. Shay, a most powerful engine 
that could pull unbelievably long trains of loaded cars. 
As Dr. Vance's hearers had been skeptical about his 
story, he interviewed the makers and learned that 
with some subtraction it was true, and that the secret 
of its wonderful power was the fact that there were 
really three engines, — three packed into one. Our 
weakness is rebuked by his subsequent appeal : "Why 
should we be afraid of each other? Why should we 
shy off from each other? Why should we suspect 
each other?" 

Dr. Chester showed the Congress how cooperation 
and division of the field could be accomplished. In 
the Congo Mission of the Southern Presbyterian Board 
they could not overtake the work, so Bishop Lambuth 
of the Southern Methodist Board came to establish 
a mission beside them. The Presbyterians not only 
gladly welcomed him, but they also gave him his 



204 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

first church by turning over a quantity of their own 
strong members, "who knew the Shorter Catechism 
backwards and forwards," for the Bishop to turn 
into Arminians, regardless of predestination and fall- 
ing from grace. 

Mr. Revell, the New York publisher, told of an 
iron workers' convention held in Washington, where 
representatives of the business from various European 
nations met with Americans to consult as to their 
mutual interests. They resolved to adopt two 
emblems, one to suggest the ruinous past and the other 
the better future. The former represented a melting- 
pot in which were rifles with crossed bayonets and 
the legend above it, "Might is Right" with the word 
"Competition" below; the second emblem was an- 
other melting-pot in which were rifles with reversed 
bayonets and the legends, "Right is Might" and "Co- 
operation." "Are the men of this world wiser in 
their generation than the children of light?" Mr. 
Revell asked. 

Bishop McConnell dwelt upon the conquering power 
of a brotherly and spiritual atmosphere. "Some things 
have to be corrected by creating an atmosphere in 
which these things perish of themselves. When I 
was a boy and got my first glimpses into geological 
history, I used to wonder who killed those great beasts 
of tremendous size that splashed about in the swamps. 
After awhile I made this discovery — that nobody 
killed them; the climate changed and they died. So 
with many evils in the world; they are to be over- 



UNITY'S FRATERNAL PROGRAM 205 

come by a change of climate only. The only way we 
can have spiritual climate is by the cooperative move- 
ment coming in to dominate the lives of the 
Churches." 

Let this chapter close with the final paragraph of a 
powerful address upon the possibility of cooperation 
with governments in Latin America, delivered by the 
Rev. James McLean of Chile. "The missionary ought 
never to be less than a spiritual plenipotentiary. He 
ought ever to hold himself free from political intrigue, 
and the stream of his life ought to touch and refresh 
the society which surrounds him. His attitude toward 
life ought to be that of whole-souled friendship 
wherever possible. Certainly he makes no gain by 
isolation and antagonism; much less by competition. 
In many of these republics the chief obstacle to 
progress comes from the opposition of individuals. 
Whether we are invited to cooperate in education, in 
temperance, in social reform, in a Christian sense 
where we can do it without lowering our allegiance, 
we ought gladly to do it, we ought gladly to offer 
our help. Thank God, in spite of racial and political 
barriers there is no barrier to brotherly love. Here 
is a wide ministry indeed into which we can enter as 
God gives opportunity." 



CONGRESSIONAL ADDRESSES 

Chapters II to IX of this volume have dealt 
seriatim with the reports of the eight commissions of 
the Congress and with the discussions following their 
presentation. They were in the nature of the case 
more or less technical. Yet Panama will stand for 
much more than a scientific conference of friends 
and workers for Latin America. Those were days of 
inward inspiration coming in the midst of problems 
which seemed insoluble, and nights with the tropical 
stars looking down upon men and women gathered to 
hear the prophets and prophetesses of a coming day 
when Christianity's triumphs will circle the world and 
crown again the later Latin conquistador es, leading 
in their jubilant train, not enslaved aborigines, but 
souls of black, red and white alike — all rejoicing in 
Christ Jesus who has set them free and given them 
the life which is life indeed. As it is impracticable 
to give the reader even an outline of the nearly forty 
addresses of a general character not intimately related 
to the Congress, a selection has been made, and the 
reader may gather therefrom what the thought of 
these leaders was as they faced the spiritual life and 
the needs of men. Rather than to give full synopses 

207 



208 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

of the addresses, they are presented in extracts or in 
a summary of portions of them. The reader is re- 
ferred to the Report for fuller statements. 

Those of a devotional character are not reproduced, 
as they are much like what one would have heard in 
Northfield or at Keswick, with little reference to the 
Congress. The topics and speakers at the eleven 
o'clock hour were in chronological order as follows : 
'The Preeminence of Christ," the Rt. Rev. Arthur S. 
Lloyd, D.D. ; "The Ministry of Intercession," the Rev. 
Archibald McLean, LL.D. ; "Lessons from the Early 
Christians," Professor William Adams Brown, Ph.D., 
D.D. ; "Reality in Religion," President Henry 
Churchill King, LL.D. ; "Christ's Vision of the Unity 
of All Believers," the Rev. Paul de Schweinitz, D.D. ; 
"The Recovery of the Apostolic Conception of God," 
the Rev. Lemuel C. Barnes, D.D. ; and "The Secret 
of a Mighty Work of God," Bishop Walter R. 
Lambuth, D.D. 

Logically, though not chronologically, should be 
placed first, the address of welcome, delivered on the 
opening evening by Sefior Ernesto Lefevre, Minister 
of Foreign Affairs for the Republic of Panama. In 
musical Spanish His Excellency extended a cordial 
greeting, after which he repeated it in equally happy 
English. Here are a few extracts from his address. 

"Impelled by a deep feeling of cordiality and good- 
will, I come to welcome you in the name of the 
Panamanian government at this opening session of 
the Congress on Christian Work in Latin America. 



CONGRESSIONAL ADDRESSES 209 

"The constitution of the Republic of Panama gives 
ample guarantees of liberty of conscience. As a proof 
of this and because our government fervently desires 
to create a feeling of tolerance in the Republic, I have 
not hesitated to accept your kind invitation and to 
proffer a genuine welcome, although I am a sincere 
and devout Catholic. Let me impress upon you that 
although the Panamanians have but recently gained 
their independence, it does not follow that they do 
not recognize the benefits brought about by respecting 
the liberties and rights of others. 

"You have chosen the most propitious moment for 
your noble task. While I am speaking, violence and 
fury are unchained in the Old World, destroying 
everything which they meet in their pathway. . . . 
We, the peoples of America, should do all in our 
power, not only to keep away from strife, but to bring 
about a lasting peace among those who are at war. 
. . . Your purpose is to unify the moral and re- 
ligious forces of America. For this reason and with 
great foresight you have selected for this Congress 
the soil of Panama as a central point from which its 
influences will widely radiate. We appreciate the im- 
portance of our location here; and since we desire to 
meet the demands of every human interest, we hold 
our country open to all men and to all generous ideas. 
Our motto, 'Pro Mundi Beneficio/ [For the benefit 
of the world], is not an empty phrase, but a true 
sentiment of our people. With all the respect and 
consideration which is due to such a gathering as this, 



210 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

I take great pleasure in saluting you in the name of 
the government of Panama and wish for you all suc- 
cess in your mission. ,, Dr. Mott's response was like- 
wise most felicitous. 

It was but natural that the European war should 
have some place in the program of the Congress. The 
time chosen was on Sunday evening, when the dele- 
gates were invited to assemble at the great hall of the 
beautiful Instituto Nacional, the Republics highest 
educational institution, and to enjoy with citizens of 
Panama a thrilling address by Dr. Mott. The rector 
of the Institute, Dr. E. G. Dexter, graciously welcomed 
the Congress, after which he introduced Senor G. 
Andreve, Secretary of Public Instruction, who in turn 
presented the speaker of the evening. 

"In these spacious days, in these solemn days," said 
Dr. Mott, "in these days of God's own visitation, it is 
fitting that a great company like this, made up of so 
many men and women of wide outlook and of respon- 
siveness to the highest purposes that move men, 
gathered from so many nations, should focus our at- 
tention upon the greatest concentration of human 
strain, the greatest concentration of human oppor- 
tunity that this world has ever known." And then 
through his personal experiences, he allowed his 
audience to share with him "that sacred and solemn 
privilege of looking into the very soul of the Euro- 
pean peoples. " For more than an hour he held his 
audience spellbound, as he threw the searchlight of 
Christian sympathy into hospitals, trenches, camps, 



CONGRESSIONAL ADDRESSES 211 

military prisons, and the sobbing yet courageous homes 
of the nations mourning for their dead. But the Christ 
of Calvary, Man of Sorrows, was also in home and 
battlefield; and with that finger with which He once 
wrote on the dust of the temple floor, He is now writ- 
ing on the clouds beside Constantine's "In hoc signo 
vinces" the one word "Opportunity." In particular, 
He is calling the Latin and Anglo-Saxon of the 
western hemisphere to unite in a great union move- 
ment America's Christian forces for the help of 
Europe in these days of cataclysm and Armageddon 
woe. Dr. Mott's closing words were these: "It is 
the time of times for the Christians, especially of the 
neutral lands of the Americas, to afford a wise and 
unselfish leadership of the forces of righteousness. If 
they serve the war-swept and suffering nations in their 
deep suffering, these nations will follow their leader- 
ship in the years before us. In the darkest hour of this 
terrible night, it is the most distinctive mission of 
many like ourselves who bear Christ's name to tell of 
the coming dawn. Let us all strike the note of hope. 
Christ came that the good might conquer the ill, that 
love might vanquish hate, that where sin did abound, 
grace may yet more abound. The night is far spent, 
the day is at hand. Let us as individuals and as 
nations cast off the works of darkness; let us put on 
the armor of light." A feeble echo this of a world 
prophet's awakening summons. 

The keynote of the Congress was sounded when it 
really began its sessions on the first Thursday after- 



212 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

noon. Doctor Oldham's reading of Isaiah 2:1-4 and 
Ephesians 3:1-4 and his devout prayer were followed 
by Dr. Robert E. Speer's opening address upon "Our 
Attitude and Spirit." The delegates had met as Chris- 
tian brothers and sisters, a real spiritual family. Yet 
there is another presence felt, for we are here in the 
fellowship of Christ; nay, in Christ Himself. As 
one of the delegates, Mr. Howell, told him that he 
lived in a town in Cuba named Christ, Cristo, he 
spoke of all that that suggested to the Christian and 
of the longing imparted to live really in Christ. In 
such an atmosphere, we face life with new standards 
as to our relationship to each other. How near we 
are to one another in Him. As for himself, Dr. 
Speer said : "I never have gone to any gathering any- 
where with the same experience of heart, with the 
same feeling of brotherly love, with the same con- 
fidence of unity of mind, of result, which God has 
given in connection with this gathering here in Panama. 
The more varying our experience, the more diverse 
our temperaments, the more supplementary our points 
of view, the richer our fellowship here, the larger the 
contribution which it will be possible for us to make 
to the body of Christ and its work in the world." 

Our attitude toward the enterprise entrusted to us 
must be that of Jesus Himself, and that was fourfold. 
He had an absolute discernment of it all and saw men 
and His tasks for them with unerring truth. Love as 
a factor in His work was absolutely undying, limit- 
less, sacrificial. Self-will was eclipsed by the Father's 



CONGRESSIONAL ADDRESSES 213 

will; utter unselfishness characterized His service. 
"And there was, lastly, a patience that could never 
be worn away, a patience that never was fretful, never 
irritated, that never gave over, that held fast to one 
whom He ever knew to be murderer through all the 
years in the hope that still His love might break His 
friend's heart." Most of the address was an applica- 
tion of these characteristics to the missionary's life. 
The heart's center was Love ; and he quoted the words 
of David Livingstone who had touched at Bahia, 
Brazil, on his way to Africa, in whose birthday prayer 
of the year before he died they are found : "O Divine 
Love, I have not loved Thee deeply, richly, tenderly 
enough." 

How such a passion would posses a man and what it 
would cause him to do Dr. Speer quietly but with 
dramatic power told in this paragraph. "There is a 
wonderful passage in James Thomson's 'City of 
Dreadful Night,' where the soul in its dismal way 
gropes in the darkness across the desert, rough talons 
and arms grasping at it from the scraggly bushes on 
either side, as it passes along in the darkness. 
Presently the soul comes to a high precipice and looks 
over a great stretch of white sandy beach on which 
the surf of the incoming tide is breaking. There, to 
its horror and consternation, on the beach nearer to 
which every instant come the lapping waves, lies the 
soul's own self to which it cannot go. The soul looks 
down in horror upon itself, waiting there for the slow 
engulfing of the approaching tide. Presently far down 



214 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

the white sands a white figure is seen drawing near 
as of a woman carrying a red lamp in her hand; and 
the soul watches with intense eagerness the woman 
who appears to be seeking something. The woman 
draws near. She comes closer and closer, until the 
soul sees that it is not a lamp that she carries in her 
hand, but her own bleeding heart ; and the blood-drops 
trickle step by step as she makes her way to where 
the soul's own self is left; and stooping over it with 
her own bleeding heart, she gathers up that which she 
would save." 

From Calvary with its inscription, "He saved others, 
himself he cannot save," the audience was led to the 
transfiguring door of expectation. "If He be true, — 
and we know that He is truer than our knowledge of 
His being true, — He stands now as He has always 
stood over against the hearts of His people. We may 
be sure He is standing in front of us now. Oh, if we 
but be still, we shall hear Him now as then : 'I stand 
at the door and knock. If your Congress will open 
the door, I will come in — I will.' Shall He not? 
Shall I not say to Him now as one of all of us — I 
hear Him knocking — 'Lord, I came here to have Thee 
come into my life in a new and more commanding 
way than ever. Come in ! Come in !' " In the hushed 
stillness Christ came in. 

Quite different from this address, but equally es- 
sential for Latin America's intellectuals, were the de- 
liverances of the following evening, when modern 
science was considered in its relation to the evangelical 



CONGRESSIONAL ADDRESSES 215 

propaganda — in one aspect a stumbling-block and rock 
of offense, in another a foundation-stone upon which 
the intellectual superstructure of the Church must rest. 
Though presiding, President King had been asked to 
speak generally upon the contributions of science to 
human progress. Despite its disturbing character, we 
should look upon it as an ally and not as an enemy. 
"If we really believe in the providence of God, we 
shall believe He has been in these movements, as well 
as in others, and has not left Himself without wit- 
ness, — that the veracity of modern science has proved 
to be really a great new note of challenge not only, 
but a great encouragement to faith." And then he 
indicated five particulars in which modern science has 
aided religion. It has enormously increased the re- 
sources of wealth and power and knowledge. It has 
voiced emphatically the insistent challenge to ideal in- 
terests to produce men and women who shall be worthy 
of these vast resources. It has brought to us a view 
of the world far larger and more significant than we 
have had heretofore and has forced us thereby to a 
more adequate and a larger conception of God. It 
has brought to us the scientific method, a method util- 
ized so notably in this Congress. "And, finally, modern 
science has given us the great new vision of what 
we call the scientific spirit, — what is after all nothing 
but Jesus' own first condition of entrance into the 
Kingdom of Heaven, the spirit of the humble, open- 
minded man." 

Professor Braga, of Brazil, spoke upon "The Claims 



216 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

of Christ on Thinking Men." Naturally he had mainly 
in mind the intellectuals of Latin America. They are 
living in an intensely practical age and are seeking to 
resolve the problems of life and to grasp the great 
truths concerning men from the viewpoint of the 
practical. In reaching out for help, they are turning 
more and more to North America for aid. In secur- 
ing, analyzing and classifying practical information, 
it is done partly for themselves, but also with an al- 
truistic intent. The tendency hitherto has been to 
sound only the shallower depths. Now it looks toward 
the more profound truths of life and for such views it 
is turning northward. This is not the true source of 
help. As Professor Braga said in conclusion : "J esus 
gives the keynote of all these problems when He says, 
T am the way, the truth, and the life/ Jesus must 
be the way, the truth and the life for all the awakening 
intellectuals of South America. His teaching and His 
doctrines are for man's profit, for his own personal 
advantage; and then they fit him for that large con- 
tribution, that noblest service to humanity through 
Christ. It is this that has the largest claims upon the 
thoughtful minds of South America, upon the awaken- 
ing hearts and lives of that great continent." 

Bishop McConnell, who has episcopal oversight of 
the Methodist Board's work in Mexico, said the con- 
cluding word upon this subject, his topic being, "The 
Christian Faith in an Age of Science." The scientific 
spirit in the last half century has passed through three 
distinct stages. At first evolution/ which especially 



CONGRESSIONAL ADDRESSES 217 

concerns us now, was interpreted almost wholly in 
materialistic terms. Later, evolutionists speak of 
themselves as agnostics. Then came the latest step at 
w T hich there is some return to the spirit of faith that 
is represented in men like Sir Oliver Lodge — whose 
views, however, are not wholly respected by scientists. 
Scientific thought has passed through these stages be- 
cause of the pressure put upon it by forces of Chris- 
tian living. On the other hand religion has been 
favorably influenced by science. The smoke of the 
battle between the Old and the New Testaments has 
begun to clear away, and we find that we have a better 
perspective than ever before, a new grip upon cer- 
tain spiritual elements at the heart of our faith. In- 
stead of explaining Christ away, He comes back with 
a force stronger than ever. Prayer stands on a firmer 
foundation now, so that the scientific spirit itself has 
been modified and has in it more of the spirit of faith 
than it formerly had. Latin Americans are in the last 
analytic stage, scientifically regarded; and the only 
thing that will help them out is the effect of a living 
religion in the community. 

Our study of science has had a reflex influence upon 
our own spirits. Because we have been wrestling with 
material things, our treatment of theology is couched 
now in the terms of life, and not upon abstractions as 
in former days when one read such discussions as 
this upon the Trinity, the subdivisions being three — 
pleromatic humanity, pleromatic divinity, and hypo- 
static union. There has been also a correction of our 



218 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

feeling. The old pessimism and despair are passing 
away, and the most hopeful men are those having the 
hardest problems to solve. Like the hospital novice 
who feels nauseated when he first goes on the field 
of battle, but who forgets his stomach when he cares 
for the sorely wounded, so we are finding new 
strength and hope as we enter into an age of service. 
Three great challenges face the Christian in this 
age of science. He and the scientist alike stand be- 
fore the conquests of nature, of disease and of poverty. 
With the forces underlying this threefold conquest we 
must have something to do. The second challenge con- 
fronting us is that we shall reorganize human society 
upon such a basis as to place human values in the fore- 
most place, giving man the preference over theories 
or mere things. And finally, it is "the heart of Scrip- 
ture that the scientific spirit, working together with 
the religious spirit, dares accept this challenge to 
change human nature, if you care to put it so; at least 
to change the conditions of human life, the home life, 
the conditions of childhood, the conditions of youth, 
and to transform all these conditions under which 
human beings live. It is just the message of redemp- 
tion. . . . All men working together from what- 
ever angle can do something toward bringing about 
this consummation, that there shall be, even in these 
material things, in a very real sense such a revela- 
tion of God that we can say that we stand in His 
presence, — so that each common bush shall glow with 
God." 





ARRIVAL OF PHYSICIAN AT THE DISPENSARY, 
PORTO RICO 
GIRLS' DORMITORY, CHRISTO SCHOOL, CUBA 



CONGRESSIONAL ADDRESSES 219 

A score of times at least during the nine days' con- 
gressional sessions Latin leadership had been urged 
as a primal necessity of the evangelical Churches. 
Two addresses on Monday evening dealt with this 
pivotal theme. The Rev. E. C. Pereira of Brazil spoke 
upon "True Leaders the Fundamental Need." "The 
true leader, like the poet, is born and not made. He 
gains and holds his place by the spontaneous consent, 
rather than by the formal vote, of men. Legitimate 
child of his environment, he absorbs the noble but as 
yet uncertain ideas, the confused sentiments, the ill- 
defined hopes, the vague aspirations that are com- 
mon to his fellows, and then interprets, defines and 
illustrates them. Stirred by his environment, he in 
turn reacts upon it. Moral currents are formed and 
then swell. The struggle begins; men's spirits are 
aflame. A banner is unfurled to the strong winds of 
an ideal, and around it are gathered soldiers ready for 
any sacrifice. In the rude struggle of conflict, the 
leader becomes a hero or martyr. Like the good 
shepherd of the parable, he never leaves his flock to 
the cruel teeth of their vulpine foes. The leader, how- 
ever, is not only the commander in the hour of con- 
flict. He should also be the interpreter, the authori- 
tative exponent and organ of those he leads. Such is 
in general outline the function of the leader, especially 
in the new Ibero-American societies. ,, The speaker 
then mentioned three causes making true leadership 
difficult at present in Latin America. The first and 
most important one is ethnic, the moral and social in- 



220 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

stability of these southern democracies. A second is 
psychological, the lack of great ideals. The third is 
the absence in any large measure of a system of 
education adequate for the formation of character. 

What manner of men were needed for these posi- 
tions of influence Sefior Pereira partly described in 
these words : "It is necessary in the present condition 
in Latin America that the leader should be a man of 
God, without ambition and without personal vanities 
and follies, — a man not only diligent, active and prac- 
tical in meeting and solving the difficulties of the 
moment, but also a man of foresight and of broad 
vision of the future and able to keep before the minds 
of his fellow Christians, not the narrow view of a 
combat, but the larger conception of a campaign. 

"It is necessary that missionaries, filled with the 
spirit of John the Baptist, watch and labor anxiously 
for the time when they may occupy a place in the 
background and consider themselves the friends, coun- 
sellors and foster-fathers of the nascent Church. 
. . . The voice of God, speaking through the ex- 
perience of fifty years, proclaims to the apostles of 
all the denominations at work in Latin America that 
their task will be like that of the daughters of Danaus, 
unless they succeed in raising up men of true leader- 
ship, men able — while checking the turbulent spirit of 
revolt — to gather about themselves the good, the noble 
and the true, pointing them to the way of the Cross 
and of service, and leading them to the fulfilment of 
the noble and divine program of Missions." The en- 



CONGRESSIONAL ADDRESSES 221 

tire address, as these extracts may suggest, was most 
searching and convincing. And Bishop Stuntz, who 
followed with one upon the correlative theme, "The 
Price of Leadership," aptly completed a fine piece of 
argumentation and of effective appeal which gave the 
missionary administrator's point of view. 

Perhaps the most striking address of the entire Con- 
gress, all things considered, was that of one of the 
Supreme Court judges of Porto Rico, the Honorable 
Emilio del Toro. As an enlightened Roman Catholic, 
he could discuss his theme, "The Principles and 
Spirit of Jesus Essential to Meet the Social Needs of 
Our Time," with an appreciation of the best work 
of his own Church and also with absolute fairness to 
the evangelical movement. Although the Judge spoke 
in Spanish, he was listened to with the profoundest in- 
terest, and at the close his address received most hearty 
applause. He said in part : 

"I have been asked to state this evening what are 
the principles and the spirit of Christianity essential 
to meet the needs of Latin America in our time; and 
I reply, the divine teachings of the Sermon on the 
Mount, conveyed in the same spirit of love and truth 
in which they fell from the lips of the Master. . . . 

"The success of the United States of America has 
been due in large measure, in my opinion, to the deeply 
religious training of the Puritans. 'When they landed 
on these shores, their moral revolution/ as a Porto 
Rican thinker, Roman Balderioty Castro, has said, 
'had been finished, and on being transplanted to the 



222 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

wider field of a new world, it was to bear all its fruits : 
full personal guarantees; deep roots for individual 
religious feeling and ample field for all its forms, 
that is, for all forms of worship; absolute respect of 
property, and in consequence elective governments; 
taxes foreseen and discussed, and expenditures known 
and efficient for the welfare of the governed; the 
right of assembly, of thought, of speech and of the 
press, and absolute liberty of labor in all its forms;' 
privileges which leave deep in the soul of the peoples 
which exercise them 'an ardent desire and an active 
hope of unlimited improvement.' . . . 

"Latin America is coming out into the life of 
civilization with a different lot. The seeds of Chris- 
tianity sown since the times of the colonizers have 
produced their fruits; and wherever there has been 
the most liberty, there its mission has become the 
noblest in practice. . . . Besides, the religious life 
of the Spanish- American countries has been character- 
ized by the most absolute predominance of the 
Catholic Church ; and in my judgment the same benefi- 
cent influence which Catholicism has exercised in the 
development of its civilization would have been greater 
had it been obliged to contend face to face from the 
earliest times with a vigorous Protestant movement. 

"Until a few years ago the Catholic Church was, in 
my native Island, Porto Rico, the state religion. 
Among the public expenditures those for worship were 
conspicuous. The influence of the clergy extended 
everywhere. And what was the result after four cen- 



CONGRESSIONAL ADDRESSES 223 

turies of abundant opportunity? A people for the 
most part indifferent or unbelieving. 

"There took place a change of regime. The Church 
was separated from the state. A struggle began. 
Under the protection of the free institutions of North 
America established in the Island, Presbyterians, 
Lutherans, Baptists, Episcopalians, began their work. 
Faint-hearted Catholic priests, accustomed to the en- 
joyment of special privileges, decried the ruin of 
their Church. But it was not so. The spirit of the 
North entered into her, and men accustomed to a life 
of freedom gave her a new impetus. . . . 

"Those who love the progress of the nations, those 
who study history dispassionately, those who have 
faith in the improvement of mankind, cannot but see 
with deep sympathy that the Reformation is spreading, 
that free investigation opens broader horizons to the 
human spirit, that Christianity preached and inter- 
preted by all disseminates its beneficent influence and 
raises the level of society. . . . 

"It is not enough in every case to enlighten the 
mind; it is necessary constantly to blow the fire. It 
is not enough to preach Christianity ; Christianity must 
be lived. It is not enough to say to the poor 
descendant of the Incas of Peru, 'Love and respect 
all men as your brothers/ and then treat him as a 
slave. If we put in his hand the Bible, we must put 
with it our love and our sympathy. If we invite him 
to live the Christian life, we must show him by our 
example what that life is. . . . 



224 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

"The labor is complex. ... To carry it out in 
its widest sweep requires enormous effort, inexhaust- 
ible material resources, a far-sightedness almost super- 
human on the part of the leaders, and a devotion and 
complete consecration to their duty on the part of the 
laborers. And before all and above all, it requires 
that the spirit of love — which in my judgment is the 
essence of Christianity — should inspire both the labor- 
ers and the leaders. Only love, without which charity, 
faith and religion are as bodies unsouled, will be able 
to impress Latin America. And when it is so im- 
pressed by love, when it is profoundly convinced of 
the spirit of sympathy of the missionaries, then, and 
only then, will be the propitious moment to sow and 
cultivate in it all the Christian virtues. May God 
illumine your hearts and minds." 

To follow such an address by such a man seemed 
presumptuous. Yet President Charles T. Paul, of the 
College of Missions, Indianapolis, not only succeeded 
in maintaining its high standard, but Dr. Morrison of 
The Christian Century, a fellow Disciple, does not 
hesitate to place his effort at the very apex of all the 
great utterances of the Congress. His theme was the 
same as that of Judge Del Toro, and it appealed to 
Latin Americans more than any other address of an 
Anglo-Saxon. The reasons were not far to seek. 
President Paul is a polyglot and is steeped not only 
in Iberian literatures, but also in the writings of Latin- 
American authors, of which he made a most effective 
use. It was a philosophical interpretation of social 



CONGRESSIONAL ADDRESSES 225, 

conditions in Latin America from the evangelical 
viewpoint. When he turned to the spiritual needs of 
those republics, he quoted from their own poets and 
philosophers, and then added the panacea of all these 
ills from the finest thoughts of Jesus and His modern 
followers. Occasionally and most tactfully he would 
appeal to those whom Latin intellectuals would hear 
when no evangelical voice would be tolerated, as in this 
paragraph : 

"We may recall the words of Lecky, the rationalist 
historian, who declared that in the record of three 
short years Jesus has done more to soften and regener- 
ate mankind than all the disquisitions of the philoso- 
phers and all the exhortations of the moralists. The 
cry that escaped Him on the cross has been sometimes 
regarded chiefly as an exclamation of agony. It was 
vastly more than that. It was a cry of victory wrung 
from the consciousness that He had set in motion 
forces that would save the world." Protestant and 
Romanist were as one that evening as they magnified 
Jesus and His Cross. 

Space limitations prevent further suggestions of the 
riches of these congressional addresses, though one 
thinks longingly of other deeply moving and helpful 
utterances, particularly the two of the second Friday 
evening upon "The Vital Power of Christianity — 
How Realized and Maintained." The speakers were 
the Rev. Alvaro Reis of Rio de Janeiro and the Rev. 
James I. Vance, D.D., of Nashville. If North Amer- 
ica as well as its Latin neighbor could hear and heed 



226 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

those two addresses, the end of the campaign would 
be nearer. Many others were almost equally note- 
worthy, especially Dr. Goucher's rhapsody upon "The 
Triumphs of Christianity." 

A few paragraphs must be given, however, to the 
sermon of the Congress, which came on the closing 
afternoon, a most fitting message for the final one of 
a wonderful conference. The speaker was the Rev. 
George Alexander, D.D., president of the Presbyterian 
Board, North. Dr. Speer had read part of the seventh 
chapter of St. John, beginning at the fourteenth verse, 
the delegates sang in adoration "Hail to the Lord's 
Anointed," and President Monteverde led in prayer. 

Dr. Alexander's text was Hebrews 13:8, "Jesus 
Christ is the same yesterday and to-day, yea and for- 
ever," and his theme, "The Immutable Christ." Not 
in His earthly manifestation was He unchangeable, nor 
in His message and ministry, which were richly varied. 
He is immutable as the revealer of God to all times. 
As healer of the grievous hurt of humanity, He 
changes not. Though education, ethical culture, 
civilization, may prove inadequate in this, Jesus Christ 
is the same to-day as in Palestine two millenniums ago. 
So, too, He is changeless in His leadership of redeemed 
humanity; for He is King of the Ages. It is ours 
to carry the comfort of this message to all not pos- 
sessing it, especially in this time of war tragedy. Ours 
is the responsibility to complete His unfinished task; 
for when He left the world, Christians were con- 
stituted His continuators as its salt, its light. Dr. 



CONGRESSIONAL ADDRESSES 227 

Alexander very touchingly enlarged upon this idea in 
closing. 

"It was not Simon Peter who awakened three 
thousand souls on the Day of Pentecost, but Christ 
in Peter. It was not Paul who carried salvation to 
all the great centers of the Roman Empire, but Christ 
in Paul. ... It was Christ, not St. Augustine, 
that brought salvation to Great Britain ; it was Christ, 
and not Wesley, that brought Jesus to the vision of 
the Cornish miners; it was Christ that sent David 
Livingstone into the heart of the dark continent of 
Africa. And the mighty force for the redemption of 
Latin America is to be Christ carried in your hearts 
and in your lives ; Christ speaking through your lives, 
and Christ's love revealed in your love; Christ's 
patience in your patience; Christ's life in your life; 
and He is the same yesterday, to-day and forever. 
And He is saying to each of us, 'Behold, I stand at 
the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and 
open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with 
him, and he with me.' 'O Thou who changest not, 
abide in me.' " 

After singing "Blest be the tie that binds," only the 
closing words remained to be spoken, in praise and 
in intercession. The last voice of many was that of 
Dr. Mott whose final prayer preceded the benediction, 
pronounced by Sefior Pereira. 

"Our Lord Jesus Christ, in these solemn closing 
moments of this never-to-be-forgotten Congress, we 
would again bow down in humility before Thee. We 



228 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

would fall upon our faces; we would acknowledge 
Thee to be the Lord, the Father Everlasting. We 
would have Thy hand of love and power to be ex- 
tended in blessing upon each one of us. Now help us 
as we go forth that we may watch, that we may stand 
fast in the faith, that we may be strong. Help us 
that we may be steadfast, unmovable, always pointing 
to and abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch 
as we know that our labor is not in vain in the Lord. 
God grant that we may meet again, whether it be in 
one of these Latin lands, or in some other part of 
the world, or in that land of wide dimensions whose 
builder and maker is God. May it be in the fuller 
presence. All this we ask in faith believing, through 
Jesus Christ who has bound us together and who will 
stay with us even unto the end of the ages. Amen." 



XI 

AFTERMATH AND ESTIMATES 

So important a conference could not fail to produce 
marked effects. Even while the Congress was in ses- 
sion the fruitage began to appear. Thus on Monday 
evening a meeting was called at St. Luke's Church 
where sixty-eight delegates especially interested in the 
work in Mexico met to reconsider plans made at the 
Cincinnati Conference of 1914. Reports of progress 
from the home base and from the field gave grounds 
for encouragement, as well as suggestions for tact and 
caution. A number of Societies had gone forward to 
materialize the Cincinnati plans, greatly to the delight 
of the laymen. Dr. Mott spoke on this point : "They 
have said, Tf this is the policy that is now likely to 
obtain, we are becoming interested/ I honestly believe 
that the attitude and expressions of the workers right 
here in this room, from Mexico and from the Boards 
interested in Mexico, will have more to do with point- 
ing the way to the solution of the most obstinate prob- 
lems in this and other parts of Latin America than 
any other single thing done on these grounds. In 
other words, we have had resolutions long enough. 
They have seen the path indicated at Cincinnati, but 
Cincinnati went one step farther than resolutions. 

229 



230 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

They have said, 'We will take this matter right into 
the Board rooms, and we will apply our principles/ 
And it would seem, therefore, that if in a concerted, 
statesmanlike, courageous and sacrificial manner we 
would go forward on the lines that we cannot believe 
we were led into by selfish considerations, even though 
we might have been mistaken here and there in detail, 
such action would prove contagious." Dr. Speer and 
Secretary Earl Taylor of the Methodist Board spoke 
strongly in favor of an immediate forward movement, 
so soon as war conditions will permit. 

Yet testimony, both Mexican and missionary, mani- 
fested the presence of a natural resentment against 
the Cincinnati and Board decisions, on the ground that 
the Mexicans themselves had not been sufficiently con- 
sidered and consulted. One Church went so far as to 
pass a resolution in open meeting to the effect that 
they would not endorse the Cincinnati plan and that 
they would continue their separate existence. An 
illuminating discussion followed, and as a result this 
motion was carried : "Voted : First, that we heartily 
support the Cincinnati resolutions in principle ; second, 
that, leaving the question of reorganization and re- 
alignment of the Mexican Churches in abeyance for 
the time being, we would urge the missionary Boards 
engaged in work in Mexico in the administration of 
their work to move as rapidly as possible in harmony 
with the suggestions of the Cincinnati Conference; 
and, third, that we endorse the proposal to have a 
national convention held in Mexico at the earliest 



AFTERMATH AND ESTIMATES 231 

possible moment.' ' The date of such a conference was 
then fixed for October, but later political changes may 
make that impracticable. From the meeting that even- 
ing came a clearer appreciation of the Mexican situa- 
tion than would have been possible without Panama, 
where some of the strongest friends of the work there 
could talk matters through face to face, Mexicans, 
Board secretaries and missionaries alike. 

As previously intimated, the greatest step in ad- 
vance was the establishment of a permanent "Com- 
mittee on Cooperation in Latin America," the Amer- 
ican and Canadian Section of which met an hour 
after the dissolution of the Congress. It not only 
organized with Dr. Speer as Chairman and Mr. In- 
man as Executive Secretary, but it also planned for 
meetings to carry the message of Panama to the 
great centers of population in North America. It 
considered measures for securing the cooperation of 
Societies not now working in South America such as 
the American Board, the Northern Baptist, the various 
Lutheran bodies and British Societies in South Amer- 
ica, as well as extension of activities by the Boards 
already supporting work there. Three other votes of 
the Committee are prophetic of the character of its 
coming activities. One referred to the Executive Com- 
mittee the appeal of the Rev. V. Ravi inviting the 
Waldensians in Uruguay to cooperate in missionary 
work in Latin America. It was likewise voted to re- 
quest the Committee on Education to consider the 
desirability and feasibility of sending a deputation of 



232 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

educators to South America to study and report con- 
cerning the location of educational institutions and to 
refer the matter with power to the Executive Com- 
mittee. As its budget of $12,000 for its first year was 
practically provided for, the initial meeting of the 
committee was most inspiring. 

The first official session of this Executive Committee 
met in New York on April 25, 19 16. As suggestive of 
what it has already achieved, a few items may be 
noted. Mr. Colton reported for the subcommittee on 
Survey and Occupation that the Lima Regional Con- 
ference had invited the American Board to undertake 
work in Peru and that there is large hope that that 
Board will enlarge its program for Latin America; 
that the Disciples of Christ are considering the ex- 
tension of their work in Argentina; that the Amer- 
ican Baptist Home Mission Society is giving considera- 
tion to the enlargement of its activities in Nicaragua; 
that the Methodists are considering entering Costa 
Rica; and that the Northern Presbyterians and Meth- 
odists have undertaken certain adjustments of terri- 
tory which will be developed later. Mr. Inman re- 
ported that Mr. John A. Mackay of Scotland had been 
visiting South America to investigate a field for the 
United Free Church, and that Mr. Reed of Ecuador 
had written concerning the opening up of work in 
that republic by some strong Board. Dr. Speer read 
a letter from Dr. Wallace concerning a union evan- 
gelical seminary in Mexico; and it was voted to ex- 
press satisfaction in the negotiations and a hope that 



AFTERMATH AND ESTIMATES 233 

the plan outlined may be consummated, even if it 
were necessary for deputations to visit that republic to 
insure its realization. The Committee on Literature 
stated that it already has taken steps to provide some 
of the literature decided upon by the Latin- American 
regional conferences. It was also voted to ask mission 
Boards to assign some of their strongest men on fur- 
lough to prepare a detailed and annotated bibliography. 

Secretary Inman stated that the imperfect informa- 
tion now possessed showed that one hundred and 
seventeen religious papers had printed accounts of 
the Congress, and that three hundred and three daily 
papers had contained one or more notices of its work. 
From Latin America also had come statements from 
two editors who had criticised the Congress strongly 
before it was held, but after they had been at its 
sessions, they frankly acknowledged their mistake and 
gave enthusiastic reports of the good that is resulting 
from it. 

Returning again to Panama, two days after the ad- 
journment of the Congress the first delegations were 
departing for the regional conferences, one group 
going southward to those held at Lima, Peru; San- 
tiago, Chile; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Rio de 
Janeiro, Brazil, and another sailing northward for the 
Cuba conference at Havana. Later, other delegates 
went their ways to the conferences at Barranquilla, 
Colombia, and San Juan, Porto Rico. The conferences 
of the South American republics, except Barranquil- 
la's, were under the chairmanship of Secretary A. W. 



234 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

Halsey, D.D., of the Presbyterian Board, North, and 
their dates were as follows : Lima, February 29-March 
4; Santiago, March 16-21; Buenos Aires, March 28- 
31; Rio de Janeiro, April 21-25; Barranquilla, under 
the chairmanship of the Rev. Charles C. Millar, D.D., 
February 29-March 4; Havana, February 26-29, with 
the Rev. C. L. Thompson, D.D., as chairman; and 
San Juan, March 16-20, the Rev. L. C. Barnes, D.D., 
presiding. 

In general these regional conferences were made up 
of delegates who had been present at Panama and who 
brought with them its inspiring and illuminating mes- 
sage, and of local members representing practically all 
of the Societies working in those immediate sections. 
The topics discussed were identical with those con- 
sidered at the Congress; and so each region was able 
to apply the best collective and local wisdom to the 
promotion of its own progress and to the solution of 
local problems. The discussions were based upon 
carefully prepared and fully detailed commission re- 
ports, the group of reports for the Santiago Conference 
making the equivalent of a book of two hundred pages. 
A volume is being printed which will give a full 
account of the regional conferences. 

These regional presentations of Panama's work 
were apparently of great local interest. At Lima, the 
city founded by the conquering Pizzarro himself 
seventy-two years before Jamestown was settled and 
until a century ago Rome's ecclesiastical headquarters 
in South America, the conference was the occasion 



AFTERMATH AND ESTIMATES 23$ 

for holding the first public Protestant meeting ever 
held in Peru outside the little mission halls. A theater 
had been rented, and the meeting was advertised. 
With some trepidation the evangelical believers faced 
this anticipated ordeal. To quote from Dr. Morrison : 
"We were all more or less vibrant with the feeling 
of novelty and uncertainty. What hostile elements 
might be present in the vast assembly, no one knew. 
The theater faces the plaza, and during the early part 
of our program a band was playing in this plaza. A 
great crowd stood outside the theater door as we 
entered. It was evident that the whole affair was 
felt to be a radical innovation — a Protestant meeting 
held publicly in a theater and with police protection! 
. . . From our point of view on the stage we were 
made to feel the heterogeneous character of the 
audience. There were a very few Anglo-Saxon faces 
— some missionaries, ten or twelve Americans or 
Englishmen engaged in business in Lima, and about 
two-thirds back someone pointed out to me the in- 
terested face of the Hon. Benton McMillan, United 
States Minister to Peru. . . . Then there were 
the humble and intelligently devout faces of the mis- 
sion members. These seemed to constitute more than 
two-thirds of the audience. Scattered through the 
house were many men whose cheers seemed to me to 
indicate not so much a positive attitude of favor and 
support for the evangelical ideals as a negative jeer- 
ing of the Roman Catholic Church, concerning which 
they had evidently experienced a bitter disillusionment. 



236 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

The number of men of this temper, if I am any judge, 
was very large. They are not evangelicals. They 
would probably call themselves liberals in religion, as 
well as in politics. The fact is that in religious faith 
they are quite at sea, if not confessed atheists." 
Bishop Kinsolving of Brazil presided, speaking in 
Portuguese as did Sefior Alvaro Reis of Rio, while 
the other two speakers, Professor Monteverde and 
Rev. F. Barroetavena, used Spanish. There was no 
real disturbance, though a Franciscan monk, who came 
in with a parcel of leaflets which were distributed at 
the close of the meeting, was the occasion of a com- 
motion. The circulars were not so much an attack 
upon Protestantism as on the Liberal party for grant- 
ing the right of public worship to others than Roman 
Catholics. 

How the less fanatical cities regarded these public 
meetings of the conferences, may be gathered from an 
account of the Santiago theater meeting as reported in 
La Union, the daily mouthpiece of the Catholic Church 
there. Again we are indebted to The Christian Century 
articles of Dr. Morrison. "We had heard mention of 
this Protestant sect which our people had christened 
with the picturesque name of 'Canutes' [so called be- 
cause Sefior Canut was one of the best known of the 
early preachers, so that all evangelicals in Chile are 
called after his name, a la Dowieites]. We had the 
impression that the Lutheran religion had gained some 
ground among us, thanks to the persevering labor of 
the Salvation Army which under pretense of fighting 



AFTERMATH AND ESTIMATES 237 

alcoholism is carrying forward a formidable prop- 
aganda in favor of Protestantism. In a word, we 
were convinced beforehand that Protestantism, in spite 
of its exotic character as regards the mentality, the 
mode of life and the religious traditions of our people, 
had gained a few adepts [?] among the Chileans. 
But we never thought that the thing might assume 
greater proportions. In going to the Comedy Theater, 
we imagined that we would find it more or less filled 
with foreigners, numerous misses and ladies, a few 
Chileans more or less curious like ourselves, a few 
women of our land, and a very, very few specimens 
of the native land of O'Higgins and Arthur Prat, 
who, as is known, are ardent advocates of the Virgin 
of Carmen. Our surprise, therefore, was great, when 
we found the theater full from the pit to the highest 
gallery, all the seats occupied by a gathering that, it is 
true, was cosmopolitan, but in which the national 
element predominated.' , 

Then follows a most vivid description of the meet- 
ing itself, concluding with this characteristic Latin- 
American Catholic estimate: "For us, all this had 
been a revelation. Protestantism has advanced con- 
siderably among us. Its apostles, those who propa- 
gate it, its elements of action, are formidable. We pro- 
pose to study with all calmness and with a spirit free 
from passion that which the advance means for the 
country. We believe it involves grave perils for our 
social tranquillity, for the harmony of the Chilean 
family. Far be it from us to suppose that its agents 



238 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

and propagandists deliberately pretend to create these 
disturbances. But their work is bound to have such 
an unfortunate result, because they aspire to the mak- 
ing of Protestantism the national religion; and this 
pretension, as history shows, has made seas of blood 
to run and has sunk in misery those peoples who have 
fallen into those abysses of misfortune known as re- 
ligious wars." 

From the Protestant point of view these regional 
conferences have already been most profitable. Thus 
the chairman of the Havana Conference, Dr. Thomp- 
son, said at its closing session: "There never before 
was an occasion in Cuba like this. We have had 
splendid fellowship, and hereafter we can cooperate. 
Panama was great, but this has been more concrete. 
We have never had such companionship. Before the 
Panama Congress some of us feared that some ques- 
tions would be hard to answer; but now we can 
separate, knowing that we have found the heart and 
mind of one another, and it will be a sweet memory. 
We can do much better together than any of us can 
do alone." Secretary McAfee says of Havana : "Those 
of us who attended the conference in Cuba are ac- 
customed to say that a miracle was wrought there 
and there are a good many evidences of it. It was seen 
in the change of sentiment on the part of leaders, and 
it was marked also in the whole atmosphere and temper 
of the conference." A "Committee of Conference in 
Cuba" appointed in consequence, held a profitable ses- 
sion at Santa Clara, April 25-26. 



AFTERMATH AND ESTIMATES 239 

In a similar strain Dr. Halsey speaks of the con- 
ference held at Lima: "The Lima conference was a 
great success. . . . The newspapers treated us 
very fairly, giving us good space, and we received 
nothing but courteous treatment from all classes. 
. . . At the beginning the national workers were 
a little slow to take part in the discussions, but as the 
days wore on they realized that the conference was 
for them, and they freely indulged in the discussions. 
In general the Lima conference was characterized by a 
spirit of unity, of harmony and of the utmost freedom 
in stating difficulties with great stress laid on co- 
operation." 

These regional conferences did not cease to interest 
their promoters in North America as soon as they dis- 
solved. Thus the deputation appointed to hold the 
South American conferences met in Indianapolis June 
14-16 to review their work there and to draw up find- 
ings for the continent as a whole. They prove the 
high value of such regional gatherings and also of 
after consultation in the interests of furthering what 
was so auspiciously begun at the field centers. 

Enough has been said to substantiate the contention 
of Chapter I that the Panama Congress has sur- 
passed not only the World Conference of 19 10, but 
all others in the speedy mobilization of varied forces 
called for by the discussions and papers heard there. 
Not a sign of flagging interest is discernible in the 
various committees entrusted with large cooperative 
responsibilities in Latin America and in North Amer- 



240 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

ica. The almost unbelievable work that has already 
been accomplished — this is written less than five 
months after the dissolution of the Panama Congress 
— is beyond any missionary precedent. Study, as well 
as work, is likewise in progress. Thus at the date of 
penning this paragraph more than five hundred leaders 
of young people's study classes throughout the eastern 
half of the United States are being trained to lead 
groups, many of them to study Bishop Stuntz's 
"South American Neighbors," while Dr. Speer's two 
books on the subject of Latin America, written since 
the Congress, will be widely used by study classes 
within nine months of its adjournment, as will the 
present volume. Scientifically conducted investiga- 
tions, sane and frank discussions, wise conclusions 
prayerfully reached, followed by local application of 
the well-planned program to local needs, constitute an 
achievement not reached hitherto by any great con- 
ference of Christians. 

But the reader will be especially interested to know 
how the Congress impressed others than the North 
Americans who are here mainly spoken of. From an 
English paper comes this estimate, written by Secre- 
tary A. S. McNairn of Great Britain's Evangelical 
Union of South America : "To sum up one's impres- 
sions of the Congress: It was a time of deep and 
refreshing fellowship with men whose lives have been 
given for Latin America and who know intimately its 
deepest needs. It was a period of abiding inspiration, 
which must profoundly affect the future life and work 



AFTERMATH AND ESTIMATES 241 

of all who were privileged to participate. The Con- 
gress was characterized by deep insight and broad 
outlook and by its frank and sincere facing of the 
situation and courageous handling of the problems." 
From the Canal Zone itself where His Lordship 
Rojas, Bishop of Panama, had issued his "Voz de 
Alerta a los Catolicos," warning his flock against the 
campaign to be started by the Congress, and where 
the Panama Pan-American Truth Society had pre- 
sented delegates with a copy of its pamphlet entitled, 
"The Guerilla Missionary Congress," a Catholic- 
owned daily, the Star and Herald, printed an edi- 
torial a week after the Congress had closed entitled 
"Christian Work," in which this paragraph occurs: 
"The attitude of the Roman Catholic Church was 
clearly antagonistic to the enterprise from the first; 
and that is a great pity, for anything that advances the 
cause of Christ and humanity must of necessity be ad- 
vantageous to that Church, if it proposes to keep 
abreast of the times and to keep its advanced position 
as the champion of progress, material and spiritual. 
No Church in all history has done nobler work for 
humanity; and Catholic missionaries are even to-day 
the pioneers of Christian endeavor in the dark spots 
of the world. It thus seems all the more difficult to 
understand why the Church in Panama opposed the 
holding of the Congress here, and why the authorities 
of the Church forbade its members from having any- 
thing to do with the enterprise. Surely the Roman 
Catholic Church is not willing to admit that it fears 



242 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

to compete with other Churches in its own field. 
. . . Nor was the Congress a patronizing snub for 
the people of Panama and their Church. Its purpose 
was as stated, and there never was the slightest indi- 
cation at any of the sessions or in any of the speeches 
that the delegates had any motive other than the highly 
creditable one of assisting in the Christian uplift of 
the peoples of Latin-American origin. Surely it is 
not denied that there is ample field in those countries 
for such work. . . . The world has reached a 
stage in its progress wherein selfishness and dogma 
must give way to the altruistic ideals of the brother- 
hood of man, if any impression is to be made on the 
mass of sin and ignorance that infests it. The Church 
should include all creeds and its one essential should 
be belief in the divine mission of its great founder 
and a firm intent to follow in His footsteps. ,, 

From other Latins come these four estimates of the 
Congress at Panama, two from Portuguese-speaking 
and two from Spanish-speaking Latin Americans. The 
first is from the pen of the Rev. Efrain Martinez, a 
leader in the Presbyterian Church of Chile and a help- 
ful participant in the Panama discussions : 

"Allow me to say that I believe the Congress will 
be for a long time to come the supreme authority and 
the compass for all the missionary activity that shall 
be developed in Latin America. It is also the index 
of the power with which the last command and 
promise of Christ beat in the heart of the Church. I 
believe that we all ought to hope that the two greatest 



AFTERMATH AND ESTIMATES 243 

needs of the work will be satisfied, — that union and 
cooperation of the missionary forces will result, and 
that a numerous and efficient national ministry will be 
raised up. 

"In Chile, apart from the need of continuing the 
mutual cooperation begun in the fusion of periodicals 
and in the establishment of a seminary for the Pres- 
byterians, Methodists and the Christian and Mission- 
ary Alliance, we hope to have, as a consequence of 
the Congress, a national ministry capable and numer- 
ous, a day school for each church, a great enlarge- 
ment of the evangelistic and educational forces in the 
plains of Chile and, above all, a normal school and 
more missionaries." 

The second Spanish estimate is from the pen of an 
honored Latin- American jurist who came at his own 
charges to the Congress and whose telling address is 
extracted in the preceding chapter. The Hon. Emilio 
del Toro, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of 
Porto Rico, writes : "In my judgment, it will not be 
long before the beneficent influence of the Congress 
of Panama will be felt in the religious, social, moral 
and educational life of Latin America. As I said in 
my address delivered before the Congress, I firmly 
believe that to spread the Reformation intelligently and 
vigorously in the Latin-American world is to awaken 
struggles of conscience in which will be forged and 
tempered those great characters so necessary for the 
uplifting and salvation of the republics, so carrying 
into it the quickening breath of the liberties thus 



244 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

conquered by the peoples of the North. Of course, 
the success of the proposed campaign will largely 
depend upon the moral stature and deeply Christian 
spirit of those in charge of that great duty." 

Dr. Jose Carlos Rodrigues, former editor and pro- 
prietor of the Jornal do Commercio, of Rio de 
Janeiro, is a Brazilian whose words have great weight. 
His opinion follows. "The ideal life of the Christian 
would be like that of Mary, sitting at the Master's feet 
and hearing from His sacred lips ri\v dyadfjv fiepida, 
'the good part' of His word. Christ, indeed, addressed 
Himself solely to the individual man. He w r as not 
cumbered with serving public powers or nations, but 
He took up the unit of man whom He saved and in- 
structed. And it is exactly because He made men that 
He has become forever the greatest regenerating and 
revolutionary power in the world. 

"It is a hard task for His disciples, however, to 
collaborate in this work of making new men. To 
the unspiritual eye this beautiful world and its multi- 
fold temptations, both intellectual and sensual, are 
constantly working to frustrate the mightiest Chris- 
tian exertions to induce the soul to come to Jesus' feet. 
And, as if that were not enough, there is on our con- 
tinent a still stronger force that holds back the soul 
from the fountain of Truth — our great inertia, our 
carelessness regarding the knowledge of God. 

"The Panama Congress has, I think, both fully and 
adequately considered the various agencies that help 
in propagating the gospel, and on the other hand the 



AFTERMATH AND ESTIMATES 245 

problems of counteracting the many devices for em- 
barrassing or stopping that glorious work. The result 
of its labors cannot fail to be fruitful. The spirit of 
liberty permeates the South American soil; and the 
few among us who experience the 'glorious liberty of 
the children of God* will certainly become radiating 
centers of the truth that Jesus Christ is indeed the 
only foundation of our happiness and hope and of 
all true social progress, as well as of the realization 
some day of mankind's highest and holiest aspira- 
tions." 

It is probable that the most philosophical interpreta- 
tion of the Panama Congress will be found in Pro- 
fessor Erasmo Braga's Portuguese volume describing 
it, if one may judge by its preliminary outline. He 
has kindly supplied this statement: "The following 
observations express the historical and religious mean- 
ing of the Panama Congress as defined in my mind. 
The most interesting feature of evangelical Chris- 
tianity at present is its convergent tendency. If we 
recall how individualism developed and how the Prot- 
estant Churches diverged after the Reformation, this 
new tendency appears to be a very important his- 
torical phenomenon. The Panama Congress was one 
of these convergent movements, and as a result of it, 
the forces of evangelical Christianity are probably 
about to be consolidated as never in the past. 

"The social and religious elements of the Americas 
have gathered together on the Isthmus for the first 
time, to study one another and to agree on some plan 



246 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

of cooperation for the spiritual uplift and salvation of 
this continent. Since the days when the Anglo-Saxon 
and the Norman came in contact, no other movement 
has placed the Saxon and the Latin types of civiliza- 
tion at close quarters in such favorable conditions to 
exchange their differing heritages. At Panama both 
Saxons and Latins met in spiritual communion, de- 
termined to understand and love one another. 

"The reports prepared for, and the papers produced 
by, the Panama Congress are a priceless contribution 
to the study of Latin America. Nowhere else is there 
to be found such a mass of information about Latin 
America from the point of view of our social and 
religious evolution, including as they do the opinions 
of Latin Americans themselves. Latin-American 
womanhood appears in these studies as the brightest 
element of our social and moral life, and the op- 
portunities and achievements of Latin civilization are 
listed as assets to be duly reckoned with. 

"The supreme contribution of the Panama Congress 
to the solution of Pan-American problems is the re- 
affirmation of the fact that the living, personal in- 
fluence of Jesus Christ is the great and the only power 
needed by the Latin-American peoples to regenerate 
the individual man and to build up free and Christian 
commonwealths. It is only Jesus Christ — His spirit, 
His love, His law — that can give spiritual meaning 
to Pan-Americanism. It was a loving act of Prov- 
idence that brought this Congress into being at such 
a time of bitter suffering for humanity." 



AFTERMATH AND ESTIMATES 247 

The final word of appreciation should be uttered 
by the man who did far more than any other person 
to create, foster and bring to a successful issue this 
epoch-marking Congress. The Rev. S. G. Inman, its 
organizer and secretary, has this to say of Panama: 

"What was accomplished at Panama? Daring 
would be the attempt fully to catalogue the results of 
such a many-sided gathering. But at least the fol- 
lowing may be mentioned : 

"First, the most comprehensive survey of the social, 
educational, and religious conditions of Latin America 
ever attempted was presented through the commission 
reports and the ten days' discussions of the Congress. 

"Second, this survey unquestionably showed that the 
existing moral and spiritual life of these young nations 
demands help from the outside for its proper develop- 
ment, and that the Latin Americans, far from resent- 
ing such help, heartily welcome its coming through 
evangelical missionary agencies. 

"Third, the study of the Latin-American people 
has revealed to Anglo-Saxons a surprisingly large 
number of praiseworthy things in their civilization, 
and will result in the missionary Societies putting 
larger emphasis on the idea of cooperation with the 
Latin Americans, and avoiding in all possible ways 
the patronizing and critical spirit. The high quality 
of the Latin- American delegates to the Congress and 
their constructive contribution to every phase of the 
discussions demonstrated the power of Latin America 
to furnish the highest type of leadership for the world's 



248 RENAISSANT LATIN AMERICA 

spiritual life, when given the proper opportunities for 
its development. 

"Fourth, it proved conclusively that the greatest inv 
pelling force to bring men of different nations and 
different creeds together is not uniformity of belief 
but the burden of great tasks. The remarkable unity 
of the Congress was due to its facing of human need, 
and this unity was threatened only when its attention 
was turned from the need by a suggestion that it 
define itself by dogmatic statement. 

"Fifth, it was demonstrated (a) that the spirit of 
Christ can so sway men that it is possible for those of 
such different inheritances and diverging prejudices 
as Anglo-Saxons and Latins to sit down together and 
discuss with perfect frankness the most intimate 
phases of their individual and national life in such a 
w T ay as to come to an ever-increasing regard for one 
another and an ever-increasing agreement as to the 
solution of their problems; (&) that Protestant Chris- 
tianity has developed to the point where it can meet 
in a Roman Catholic country and discuss frankly the 
religious problems of lands predominantly Roman 
Catholic in such a spirit of fairness and humility, and 
withal fearlessness, as to commend itself to fair- 
minded men of all creeds and to contribute in a note- 
worthy way to the binding together of the divergent 
and often warring elements of such a polyglot com- 
munity as Panama. 

"Sixth, the immediate practical result of the Con- 
gress was the organization of the Committee on 



AFTERMATH AND ESTIMATES 249 

Cooperation in Latin America to continue the work 
of the Congress and carry out its recommendations 
concerning an enlarged, more efficient and more closely 
coordinated Christian work in Latin America. Thirty- 
four missionary Societies, practically all those in the 
United States and Canada supporting work in Latin 
America, have elected members of this Committee, 
making it officially representative of these Boards. 
The machinery for quick and united action has still 
further been perfected by the election, by each of the 
seven regional conferences held immediately following 
the Panama Congress, of a field committee which is 
to cooperate with the larger home base committee. 

"Thus the Congress has devised a complete chain 
whose various links provide for united, economical, 
pervasive, and effective processes for making Christ 
known, loved and obeyed in every part of Latin 
America. ,, 



INDEX 



"A. B. C. countries" linked to United 
States, 5, 6. 

Addresses of the Congress, special, 
see ch. X, pp. 207-28. 

Africa, cooperation in Belgian 
Congo, 203-4. 

Agricultural colleges, 89. 

Agricultural education, 82-3, 104. 

Aim of church work in Latin Amer- 
ica, 139. 

Alexander, G., Congress sermon, 
226-7. 

Allison, W. B., warning against 
Catholic commendation, 74. 

Almeida, J. F. d', version of Portu- 
guese New Testament, 113. 

American Bible Society, exhibit at 
Congress, 1 6. 

Ancon, 4. 

Ancud, Bishop of, Christ of the 
Andes, 136-7. 

Andreve, G, welcome to the Con- 
gress, 20. 

Anti-Catholic propaganda deprecated, 
178. 

Aristocratic class, 38. 

Assets of Latin-American Missions, 

Si- 2 - 
Attendance at evangelical services, 

154-5. 



Boggs, S. W., maps, 16. 

Braga, E., prayer quoted, 53; im- 
proving theological education, 105- 
6; "Claims of Christ on Thinking 
Men," 216; estimate of Congress, 
245-6. 

Brandon, E. E., quoted, 86. 

Brazil, effects of miscegenation in, 
36 (5). 

Brewer, G. H., adequacy in occupa- 
tion, 50. 

British Guiana's schools. 92. 

Brooks, Phillips, quoted, 181-2. 

Brotherly relations with Latin Amer- 
icans, 178-9. 

Brown, W. A., devotional address, 
208. 

Brown, W. C, incident narrated, 
76-9; two prayer incidents, 182. 

Browning, W. E., Spanish inter- 
preter of Congress, 19; weaknesses 
in education, 104-5; welcomed by 
Catholic bishop, 181. 

Bryce, Lord: estimate of early con- 
querors, 30; on miscegenation, 36; 
real missionary problems, 107-8. 

Buenos Aires, its claims for the 
Congress, 2-3. 

Business Committee of Congress, 17. 

Business men in Latin America, 
38-9, 49. 

Butler, Miss C, syndicated period- 
ical, 116. 



Bandeirantes, 30. 

Barnes, L. C, devotional address, 
208. 

Barroetavena, F. A., advocated op- 
position to Catholics, 71; at Lima 
conference, 236. 

Beach, H. P., reply to question, 50. 

Benevente, Bishop, Christ of the 
Andes, 137. 

Bennett, Miss B. H., chairman of 
Commission V, 123. 

Bible: how presented, 65; and Lan- 
casterian schools, 91-2; Protestant 
versions in Iberian tongues, 11 2-3; 
Catholic versions, 113-4; why 
translations are desirable, 114; 
guide of new convert, 143; study 
variable, 155. 

Bible Societies, good work, 44. 

Biography stimulates interest, 169. 

Bixler, C. E., on agricultural educa- 
tion, 104. 

Board of Missionary Preparation, 
183-4. 



Calderon, F. G., quoted on popu- 
lations, 27; Latin-American races, 
35; "babel of races," 56. 

Canadian Presbyterian giving, 45. 

Canal, see Panama Canal. 

Canal Zone: Sunday services, 20; 
healthfulness to-day, 20. 

Carnegie Endowment International 
Peace, 6. 

Castro, R. B., quoted, 221-2. 

Cepero, J. R., caution in receiving 
converts, 145. 

Chester, S. H., special churches for 
intellectuals, 164; motives of giv- 
ers, 172; cooperation in Africa, 
203-4. 

Christ of the Andes, 135-6. 

Christian Century quoted, 235-8. 

Church, Evangelical: duty in Latin 
America, 39-40; two-fold affirma- 
tion, 65-6; emphasizes a living 
Christ, 66; fellowship, 67; worship, 



251 



252 



INDEX 



68; social gospel, 68; better build- 
ings, 67-8; fully discussed in ch. 
VII, pp. 139-164; general purpose 
of evangelical work, 139; Church 
defined, 139-40; relation to Roman- 
ism, 140-2; experiences of con- 
verts, 142-4; Moorish influence, 
144; race elements, 14s; cate- 
chumenate desirable, 145-6; per- 
sonal work, 146; young people's 
societies, 146-7; Sunday schools, 
147-8; special evangelistic efforts, 
148; social work, 148-9; limitations 
because of Catholicism, 149-50; 
discipline, 150; Sunday observ- 
ance, 150-2; intemperance, 152; 
gambling, 152-3; spiritual life, 153- 
4; church attendance, 154; leader- 
ship important, 155; devotional 
literature lacking, 155-6; self -prop- 
agation, 156-7; self-support, 157-9; 
self-government, 159; move toward 
independence, 160; indigenous 
leadership inadequate, 160-2; secur- 
ing and educating leaders, 162-4; 
trend toward national Church, 
197-8. 

Church of Sr. Alvaro Reis, 6-7. 

Cincinnati plans for Mexico, 229-31. 

"City of Dreadful Night," 213-4. . 

Colton, E. T., chairman Commission 
I, 25; latest news as to survey, 
232. 

Columbus preaching in Havana, 140. 

Clark University conferences, 177. 

Clemenceau, G., cited, 124. 

Colegios, 85-6. 

Colmore, C. B., securing strong na- 
tive writers, 118-9. 

Color line absent in Latin Amer- 
ica, 35- 

Colporteurs eulogized, 121-2. 

Commentaries desirable, 114-5. 

Commissions, 11-2. 

"Committee of Conference in Cuba," 
238. 

Committee on Cooperation in Latin 
America, 201-2, 231-3; value in 
future, 248-9. 

Concentration in Missions, 49. 

Conferences on Latin America, mis- 
sionary, 175; promotive of coop- 
eration, 199-200; regional after 
Congress, 233-9. 

Congresses for Latin America: at 
Washington and elsewhere, 1; at 
Panama, 1826, 2. 

Congress, Panama, of 191 6: why 
notable, 1-2; place of, 3-5; timeli- 
ness, 5-7; genesis, 7-9; objections 
to, 9-1 1 ; carefully prepared for, 
11; attendance, 14-5; its hall, 15-6; 
officers and Business Committee, 
16-7; program, 17-9; its languages, 
18-9; official interpreters, 18-9. 



Conquistador es, 30; religious objec- 
tives, 59-60. 

Controversy with Romanists dis- 
cussed, 65. 

Converts from Catholicism's experi- 
ence, 142-3. 

Cook, E. F., on unified salaries, 194. 

Coope, Miss A., work for San Bias 
Indians, 131-2. 

Cooperation and Unity: fully dis- 
cussed in ch. IX, pp. 187-205; ex- 
emplified in occupation, 188-90; 
uniformity in message, 190-1; co- 
operation in education, 191-2; in 
literature, 192-3; in woman's work, 
193; in building up Church, 193-4; 
at the home base, 195; with the 
government, 195-6; conforming to 
national aspirations and ideals, 196; 
building up a national Church, 
197-8; cooperation with Romanists 
impracticable now, 198-9; in con- 
ferences, 199-200; in prayer, 200-1; 
through enlarged Committee on 
Cooperation in Latin America, 201- 
2; possible misunderstandings, 202; 
"three engines in one," 203; illus- 
trated in Belgian Congo, 203-4; 
rivalry vs. cooperation, 204; aided 
by "change of climate," 204-5; 
missionary plenipotentiaries, 205; 
how it works in Mexico, 229-31; 
permanent committee on, 231. 

Corda Fratres, 174. 

Cortes, Srta. E., how won to Christ, 
71; social worker, Y. W. C. A., 
133. 

Cosmopolitan clubs, 174. 

Costa, Sefiora de, Christ of the 
Andes, 137. 

Council of Women for Home Mis- 
sions, study text-books, 176. 

Coyoacan College, 191. 

Cross, how regarded by converts, 
143-4. 

Cruz, Dr. Oswaldo, 34. 

Cuba, committee on conference in, 
238. 

D 

Daugherty, S. D., business men go- 
ing to Latin America, 49. 

Day nurseries helpful, 129-30. 

Delegates of Congress, fellowship of, 
4-5- 

Del Toro, E., "The Principles and 
Spirit of Jesus," 221-4; estimate 



of Congress, 243-4. 

De Schweinitz, P., devotional ad- 
dress, 208. 

Destitution in Latin America, spirit- 
ual, 45. 

Dexter, E. G., introduced Dr. Mott, 
20; Latin-American teachers vs. 
missionary, 101. 



INDEX 



253 



Discipline in evangelical Church, 
150, 153; common understanding 
desirable, 194. 

Dollar, how each is spent in Latin- 
American missions, 172. 

Dominicans establish Inquisition, 61. 



Fatherhood of God attractive, 73-4. 
Fellowship of the Congress, 4-5. 
Filipino teacher's greeting, 22-3. 
Finley, Dr. C. A., 34. 
Fox, J., 103. 



Edinburgh World Conference, 1910: 
its Levant conferences postponed, 
7; did not include Latin America, 
8; compared with Panama Con- 
gress, 1 1-3. 

Education in Latin America: full 
discussion, ch. IV; significant facts, 
82; illiteracy, 83; sparse popula- 
tion hampers education, 83-4; gov- 
ernment institutions, 84-6; secular- 
ized, 87; solidarity lacking in gov- 
ernment universities, 88; technical 
schools, 88-9; Catholic educational 
work, 90-1; historical sketch of 
Protestant education, 91-2; forms 
of recent educational work, 93-100; 
character-begetting power, 100; 
common sense needed, 101; hostels 
desirable, 102; intellectual free- 
dom, 103; Brazil needs agricultural 
education, 104; weakness of mis- 
sionary education, 104-5; correc- 
tives for theological education, 105- 
6; interdenominational cooperation 
demanded, 106; Bryce's criticism 
of Latin schools, 107-8; depend- 
ence on Christian literature, 110-1; 
kindergartens helpful, 129; mission 
normal schools, 130; Miss Coope's 
Indian work, 13 1-2; cooperation 
discussed, 19 1-2; deputation to S. 
America, 231-2. 

Elementary schools : government's, 
84-5 ; Ross on, 90-1 ; missionary, 
93-5; for Indians, 94-5. 

Elphick, R., on Chile's needs, 46; 
Old Testament after New Testa- 
ment, 115. 

Environmental influence of Latin 
America, 31. 

Estimates of the Congress, ch. XI, 
pp. 229-249. 

European War: and the Congress, 7; 
Dr. Mott on, 210-1. 

Evangelistic work: Mott and Miss 
Rouse on. 74-5; literature in, 111; 
meetings, 148. 

Evening sessions of Congress, 19. 

Evolution, Bishop McConnell upon, 
216-7. 

Ewald, C. J., Association work for 
students, 72-3. 

Ewbank, A., quoted, 127. 

Ewing, H. £., work for students, 73. 

Expenditure on Latin-American mis- 
sions, 170-2. 



Galvao, A., "Conception of God," 
162. 

Gambling through lotteries, in 
Panama, 141; difficult to give up, 
152-3. 

Garden City, L. I., Conference and 
Congress, 7-9. 

Giving to missions in Latin Amer- 
ica, 45- 

God, conception of by Galvao, 162. 

Goethals, General, 20. 

Gomara quoted, 61-2. 

Gonzalez, J. O., on how to teach, 
102; conception of a Latin-Amer- 
ican missionary, 184-5. 

Gorgas, General, 20. 

Goucher, J. F., cooperation in edu- 
cation, 106; "The Triumphs of 
Christianity," 226. 

Government aiding missions, 195-6; 
missionaries aiding, 205. 

Granberry College, 96. 

Great Commission misread, 169. 

Grenfell, Dr., quoted, 70. 

Grubb, W. B., quoted, 94-5; govern- 
ment commissioner, 195. 

"Guerilla Missionary Congress," 241. 



H 



Hale, A., quoted, 124. 

Halsey, A. W., Lima regional con- 
ference, 239. 

Hamilton, Mrs. F., a pioneer, 129. 

Hartmann, Mrs. M., Moravian 
pioneer, 127-8. 

Havana regional conference, 238. 

Health of Canal Zone to-day, 20-1. 

Hicks, H. W., chairman of Com- 
mission VII, 165. 

Higher educational institutions, 96-8. 

History of Latin America inter- 
preted, 56-8. 

Home Base: full discussion of in 
ch. VIII, pp. 165-83; discussion 
limited to N. America's societies, 
165; prayer fundamental, 165-6; 
abnormal attitude toward work in 
Latin lands, 166-7; interest now 
growing, 167-8; constructive pro- 
gram of education needed, 168-9; 
statistics apt to mislead, 169-70; 
society survey, 170-1; financial 
items, 171-2; motives to giving. 



254 



INDEX 



173; Home Base by-products, 172- 
3; Latin- American students in 
sending countries, 173-4; promot- 
ing prayer, 174; developing inter- 
est, 174-5; conferences, 17s; study 
of Latin America, 176; Y. M. C. A. 
methods of promotion, 176-7; pic- 
tures and dramatics, 177; securing 
adequate support, 177; recognition 
of N.-Amencan weakness, 178; 
strengthening brotherly relations, 
178-9; style in promoting litera- 
ture, 179-80; publicity work at 
home, 180; Bp. Lambuth's plan, 
181; British criticism of Latin 
missions met, 182; prayer helpful, 
182; the home ministry a key to 
getting candidates, 183; coopera- 
tion at, 195. 

Howland, J., on the Latin American, 
100-1. 

Howland, Mrs. J., woman's work in 
homes, 133. 

Hurrey, C. D., work for educated 
classes, 72. 

Hymnology deficient, 120. 

I 

Illiteracy in Latin America, 83. 

Immigration to Latin America, 27-8. 

Immorality forced on women, 126. 

Independent Brazilian Presbyterian 
churches, 158-60. 

Indianapolis conference on regional 
conferences, 239. 

Indians of Latin America: present 
degradation, 36; described, 36; 
number neglected, 40, 44; Tucker's 
plea for, 48; Olcott's, 48; Speer 
on, 52; religions of, 58; elemen- 
tary schools for, 94-5; their 
women's condition, 126-7; Miss 
Coope's work for, 13 1-2; element 
in evangelical Church, 145; un- 

f>rovided for religiously, 190; need 
ove and sympathy, 223. 

Industrial schools, 95. 

Inman, S. G., estimate of Congress 
reports, 12; secretary Cooperation 
Committee, 231; reports concern- 
ing Scotch participation, 232; on 
reports of the Congress, 233; esti- 
mate of Congress, 247-9. 

Inquisition in Latin America, 61. 

Instituto Evangelico at Lavras, 96. 

Instituto Nacional meeting, 19. 

Intellectuals of Latin America: perils 
to their faith, 39; groups, 39; how 
reached, 70-3, 162; special churches 
for, 164; addresses of Congress 
for, 214-8. 

Intemperance, 152. 

Interest in Latin-American missions 
growing, 167-8. 



International law authorities, 34. 
Interpretation of Latin America's 

religious position, 56-64. 
Interpreters of Congress, official, 

18-9. 
Italians in Argentina, 53. 



Jesuits: in Paraguayan Chaco, 32; 
foremost Order in Missions, 60. 

Jesus Christ, our attitude should be 
like His, 212-3; knocking at the 
door, 214, 227; central in life, 
216; "The Immutable Christ," 
226-7. 

Jones, S., importance of Sunday- 
school work, 147-8. 



K 



Kindergartens, 93; argument for, 
129. 

King, H. C., presents Education 
report, 81-3; character-begetting 
power, 100: on modernism, 102-3; 
Christian leadership, 106; devo- 
tional address, 208; science aiding 
progress, 215. 

Kinsolving, L. L., presides at Lima 
conference, 236. 



Lake Mohonk Conference, 177. 

Lambuth, W. R., plan for occupa- 
tion, 181. 

Lancasterian schools,. 91-2. 

Lane, H. M., eulogized, 97. 

Languages of Congress, 18-9; kin- 
ship of Iberian tongues helpful, 
41-2; missionary peril, 42. 

Las Casas: humane legislation due 
to him, 32; his book, 33. 

Latin America: defined, 25-26; area 
and population, 26; comparative 
areas, 26; possible future popula- 
tion, 27; immigration, 27-8; re- 
sources, 28-9. 

Latin Americans: Congress delegates 
characterized, 14; Bryce's estimate 
of conquerors, 30; Yanes' estimate 
of them, 31; famous patriots, 33; 
literary men, 33; physicians, 34; 
attitude toward N. America, 42-3; 
interpretation of its history, 56-8; 
theory of state and society, 64; 
two dislikes, 67; Howland's char- 
acterization, 100-1; Bryce on prob- 
lems, 107-8; womanhood, 124-7; 
women students, 130-1 j Latin ele- 
ment in evangelical Church, 145; 
pride of race, 149; gambling com- 



INDEX 



255 



mon, 152-3; in last analytic stag* 
of science, 217; value of Congress 
in interpreting them, 247. 

La Union quoted, 236-7. 

Leadership, evangelical: aided by 
evangelical literature, no; spirit- 
uality desirable, 155; addresses on, 
210-21. 

Lecky, W. E. H., cited, 225. 

Lectureships for Latin America, 103. 

Lefevre, E., welcomes Panama Con- 
gress, 1; bilingual address, 19; 
address outline, 208-10. 

Lenington, R. F., Fatherhood of 
God, 73-4. 

Liceos, 85-6. 

Lima regional conference, 234-6. 

Literature, evangelical: full discus- 
sion of, ch. V, pp. 109-122; 
exhibit at Panama, 16; Dr. 
Ritson on, 109-11; Bible central, 
1 1 2-4; other related literature, 
1 1 4-6; desirable varieties, n 6-8; 
securing strong writers, n 8-9; 
character of books to be written, 
119; books on Christian nurture, 
119-20; general literature desirable, 
120; hymnology deficient, 120; 
traqts and leaflets demanded, 120-1; 
for Sunday schools, 120; colpor- 
teurs, 121-2; cooperation especially 
needed, 122; lacking for women, 
135; woman's magazine wanted, 
135-6; devotional works lacking, 
155; literary style aids, 179; union 
plans for, 192-3; antichristian, 193; 
work since Congress on literature, 
233. 

Livingstone, D., his prayer, 213. 

Lloyd, A. S., devotional address, 
53-4, 208. 

Lord's Prayer expounded, 73. 

Lotteries, see Gambling. 



M 



McAfee, J. E., Protestantism's divi- 
sions, 50; Havana conference, 238. 

McConnell, F. J., quotes Phillips 
Brooks, 18 1 -2; spiritual climate 
and cooperation, 204-5; "Chris- 
tian Faith in an Age of Science," 
216-8. 

Mackenzie College, 96-7. 

MacLaren. D. C, chairman Commis- 
sion III, 81. 

McLean, A., devotional address, 208. 

McLean, J., Plea for Latin-American 
students, 48; missionaries and gov- 
ernments, 205. 

McNairn, A. S., English objectors 
to Latin missions, 182; estimate of 
the Congress, 240-1. 

Maps of occupation, 16, 188. 



Martinez, E., estimate of Congress, 
242-3. 

Martyrs, in Mexico, 149. 

"Matt H. Shay" illustration, 203. 

Memoriter teaching, 85. 

Message and Method: fully discussed 
in ch. Ill, pp. 55-79; complicated 
questions, 56; historical interpre- 
tation, 56-8; inheritance from 
primitive faiths, 58; key to under- 
standing Roman Church, 58-63; 
evangelical history, 63-4; the mis- 
sionary, 65; his message biblical, 
65-6; enlargement of Roman ideas, 
66-7; spiritual life, 67; church 
fellowship, 67; worship, 68; social 
gospel, 68; object-lessons, 68-70; 
reaching the educated, 70-1, 72-3; 
God's fatherhood, 73-4; evangel- 
istic campaigns, 74-5; illustration 
of message and method, 76-9; char- 
acter of the common message, 
190-1. 

Methods of mission work, Roman 
Catholic, 61-2. 

Mexico: special meeting on, 6; early 
missions in, 128-9; friction in co- 
operation in, 202; special meeting 
for, 229-31; conference in October, 
231. 

Ministry can aid in getting candi- 
dates, 183. 

Miscegenation, effects of, 36-7. 

Mission study classes in S. America, 
240. 

Missionaries, Evangelical : require- 
ments, 65; what they should be, 
160-1, 184-5; Sr. Pereira on, 220. 

Missionaries, Roman Catholic: work 
of the Orders, 32; entries and 
conquests of souls, 32; estimate of, 
59-61; methods, 61-2. 

Missionary Education Movement, 
175-6. 

Missions, evangelical: justified in 
Catholic lands, 41 ; encourage- 
ments, 41-2; obstacles, 42-3; sum- 
mary statement, 44-5; extension 
and intension, 49; disunited ranks, 
50; favorable facts, 50-1; three 
assets, 51-2; _ three needs, 52; 
duties, 53; historical outline, 64; 
why promote the work, 168-9. 

Monroe Doctrine: influenced by the 
Congress, 5; Latin suspicions, 42. 

Monteverde, E., Congress president, 
16; characterizes ideal Latin mis- 
sionary. 185; speaker at Lima con- 
ference, 236. 

Monteverde, Sefiora A. de, com- 
mends Y. W. C. A. work, 133. 

Moorish influence in evangelical 
Churches, 144. 

Mora, L. G., on Mexico's needs, 46; 
on Mexican martyrs, 149. 



256 



INDEX 



Morris, C, his Argentine evangelical 
schools, 93; aided by government, 
195- 

Morrison, C. C, regional confer- 
ences, 235-8. 

Moses, B., quoted on Pope's relation 
to Latin America, 59. 

Motives to supporting Latin-Amer- 
ican missions, 172. 

Mott, J. R., response to address of 
welcome, 1-2; on timeliness of 
Congress, 5-6; chairman Business 
Committee, 17; evangelistic cam- 
paigns, 74-5; Japan's method of 
securing writers, 118; brotherly 
spirit commended, 179; on the 
European war, 210-1; closing 
prayer of Congress, 227-8; on Cin- 
cinnati plan, 229-30. 

N 

National Church leadership, 160, 
162-3. 

Nationalism strong in Porto Rico 
and Brazil, 196. 

Needs of Latin America : Mora s 
statement of. 46; Elphick's state- 
ment, 46; Stuntz's statement, 46; 
three, 52. 

Negroes of Latin America: brought 
as slaves, 30; six millions neg- 
lected by Church, 40. 

Normal schools for women, 130. 

North-American Committee on Anglo- 
American Communities Abroad, 
173. 

North-American supporters of Latin- 
American missions, 165. 

Novels, high-class ones helpful, 120. 



Objections to convening Panama 
Congress, 10-1. 

Obstacles to Latin missions, 42-3. 

Occupation, see Survey and Occupa- 
tion. 

Olcott, E. E., on Indians, 48. 

Oldham, W. F., opening prayer, 22; 
his "loving method," 72; lock- 
operator of Congress, 75-6; size of 
the Latin-American job, 168; in 
opening services, 212. 

Orders, Roman Catholic, work in 
Latin America, 60-1. 

Osuna, A., chairman Commission IV, 
in. 



Palacios, Srta. J., Mexican view of 

Bible, 115. 
Panama Canal: importance, 3-4; 

made new world map, 5; visited, 

20. 
Panama city: history, 1; why chosen 

for the Congress, 3-4; other con- 



gresses, 2; its Bishop and the Con- 
gress, 10; visited, 31; its missions, 
21; on Sunday, 141. 

Panama News Letter quoted, 3. 

Panama Republic's constitution, 209. 

Pan-American Scientific Congress, 6. 

Paraguayan Chaco: Jesuit work 
there, 32; Protestants there, 44. 

Parochial schools, evangelical, 94. 

Patriots, Latin-American, 33. 

Paul, C. T "The Principles and 
Spirit of Jesus," 224-5. 

Paulistas, 30. 

Penzotti, F., imprisoned, 149. 

Peons, 36-7. 

People's Central Institute, 68-9; 
aided by government, 195. 

Pereira, E. C, ranks disunited, 49- 
50; Catholic errors, 74; ideal Latin 
missionary, 186; "True Leaders 
the Fundamental Need," 219-20. 

Periodicals of churches help Latin- 
American missions little, 175. 

Personal work in evangelical Church, 
146. 

Peru, plea for, 47. 

Photography aids. 180. 

Physicians, noted Latin-American, 34. 

Piedras Negras Institute: an object- 
lesson, 6; its program, 69-70; aided 
by government, 195. 

Pope and Latin America, 59. 

Populations of Latin America, 26-8. 

Porto Rico situation queried, 189: 
its workers aid government, 195-6; 
nationalistic feeling strong there, 
196; benefits from missions, 222-3. 

Prayer: at daily sessions, 17-18; Bp. 
Oldham's, 22; Bp. Lloyd's, 54; 
Prof. Braga's, 54; for Commis- 
sion II, 55; too formal and easy, 
154; especially needed for Home 
Base, 165-6; promotion through 
calendars, etc., 174; suggestions 
concerning, 177; essential for co- 
operation, 200-1; closing prayer of 
Congress, 227-8. 

Presbyterian Churches in Brazil, in- 
dependent, 158-60. 

Principles of mission work, Miss 
Rankin's, 128-9. 

Printing early in Latin America, 33. 

Program of Congress, 17-9. 

Publicity bureaus, 180. 

Puritans in the New World, 30, 
221-2. 

R 

Races of Latin America: Numerical 
statement. 34; no color line, 35; 
miscegenation effects, 36-7; claims 
on evangelicals, 38-9; feeling 
against other races, 42. 

Rainey, W. H., one evangelical uni- 
versity, 106. 



INDEX 



257 



Rankin, Miss M., Mexican pioneer, 
1 28-9. 

Ravi, v., Waldensians in Uruguay, 
231. 

Reformation spreading, 223. 

Regional conferences, 233-9. 

Reina, C. de, Bible version, 112. 

Reis, Sr. Alvaro, his church, 6-7; on 
education, 10 1-2; "The Vital 
Power of Christianity," 225; at 
Lima conference, 236. 

Religions of indigenous inhabitants 
of Latin America, 58. 

Religious liberty not fully assured 
in Latin America, 43- 

Resources of Latin America, 28-9; 
Barrett's prediction, 29. 

Restlessness of better class of church 
members, 159-60. 

Revell, F. H., evangelical literature, 
116; rivalry and cooperation, 204. 

Rio de Janeiro: its claims for the 
Congress, 2 ; health reclamation, 
34; Archbishop of, value of ver- 
nacular translations, 114- 

Ritchie, J., plea for Peru, 47- 

Ritson, J. H., on Christian literature, 
109-11. 

Robinson, Canon, on Catholic mis- 
sions, 63. 

Rodrigues, J. C, estimate of Con- 
gress, 244-5. „ . , 

Roman Catholic Church: attitude to- 
ward Congress, 10-1; not helpful 
to intellectuals, 39; its missions 
justified. 41; cooperation with, im- 
possible, 43; Protestant criticisms 
of, 47; delegates' relation to it, 
56; four facts help understand it, 
58-63; spirit and method, 61-2; 
present status, 62-3; defects, 63; 
spiritual life imperilled, 67; errors 
warned against, 74; its universi- 
ties, 86-7; helpfulness of Bible 
translations for, 114; object to 
vernaculars, 114; described, 140-2; 
harasses Protestant work, 150; anti- 
Catholic^ propaganda deprecated, 
178; priests' ratio to population, 
181; cooperation with, 198-9; atti- 
tude of Panama Republic, 209; 
Judge del Toro on, 222-3; estimate 
of Santiago regional conference, 
236-9; Star and Herald's view of 
Congress, 241-2. 

Ross, E. A., quoted, 90-1; S. Amer- 
ican women, 124, 126. 

Rouse, Miss R., how to reach stu- 
dents, 75- 



St. Anthony devotee's conversion, 

76-9. 
Saltillo Methodist Girls' Normal 

School, 95. 



Sanders, F. K., conference on effi- 
cient candidate training, 184-6. 

Santiago College. Chile, 130. 

Santiago conference, 236-8. 

Schools, see Elementary schools, and 
Secondary schools. 

Science and Christian faith, 215, 
216-8. 

Scientific character of Congress, 14. 

Secondary Schools: Government's, 
84-5; early missionary, 92; later 
missionary, 95-6. 

Sein, E. M., favorable aspects of 
missions, 50-1. 

Self-governing evangelical churches, 
159-60. 

Self-propagation of churches, 156-7. 

Self-support of churches, 157-8; gifts 
of Brazilian church, 196-7. 

Shepherd, Prof., quoted, Spaniards' 
three desires, 31; motives in deal- 
ing with Indians, 32. 

Smith, Miss F., on Colombian 
women, 126; S. American homes 
and women, 134. 

Social work: social gospel needed in 
Latin America, 68; for women, 
132-3; reforms, 148-9; social needs 
met by spirit of Jesus, 221-4. 

Societies in Latin America, mission- 
ary, 171. 

Solidarity lacking among Latin-Amer- 
ican students, 88. 

Southern News Bureau, 180. 

Speer, R. E., genesis of Congress, 
7-9; chairman of day sessions, 16-7; 
Filipino teacher's story, 22-3; 
assets, needs, duties in Latin mis- 
sions, 51-3; "Tourist Guide," 173; 
opening address of the Congress, 
212-4; approves Cincinnati plan, 
230; chairman Cooperation Com- 
mittee, 231; union seminary in 
Mexico, 232-3. 

Spiritual life of Churches, 153-4. 

Star and Herald, on Congress, 241-2. 

Stark, A. R., Bolivian girl incident, 
115. 

Statistics of Congress: alluded to, 
43-4; apt to mislead, 169-70; so- 
ciety, 171; financial, 17 1-2. 

Strategy missions: Panama strategic 
for Congress, 4-5; stations well 
located, 41. 
Student Volunteer Movement and 

Latin America, 176. 
Students of Latin America: plea for, 
47-8; work by Christian Associa- 
tion, 72-3', Miss Rouse on, 75; 
solidarity lacking, 88; Latin Amer- 
icans studying abroad, 173-4. 
Study of Latin-American missions, 

176. 
Stuntz, H. C, on Plate country 
needs. 46; chairman Commission 
VII, 139; "The Price of Leader- 



258 



INDEX 



ship," 221; "South American 
Neighbors," 240. 

Sunday observance, 150-2. 

Sunday schools, 99-100; literature 
important, 121; importance and 
weakness, T 47-8; defects of, 156. 

Survey and Occupation: fully dis- 
cussed in ch. II, pp. 25-54; terri- 
tory defined, 25-6; prospective 
areas, 26-7; immigration, 27-8; re- 
sources, 28-9; peoples concerned, 
29-36; social groupings, 36-8; 
claims on evangelical Churches, 
38-41; aids to occupation, 41-2; 
obstacles, 42-3; statistical items, 

t3-5; Mexico's need, 45-6; Roman 
actor, 47; student class, 47-8; 
Indians, 48; Northern business 
men, 49; extension or intension, 
49; divided Protestantism, 49-50; 
adequacy of occupation defined, 

?o; favorable time for survey, 50; 
avoring conditions, 50-1; assets 
of the task, 51-2; needs, 52; per- 
sonal duties, 53; cooperation aids, 
188; good opportunity for changes, 
189-90; latest news concerning, 232. 
Swift, J., on evangelical literature, 
109. 



Taylor, S. E., extension and inten- 
sion, 49; approves Cincinnatti plan, 
230. 

Technical schools, 88-9. 

Teeter, W. H., quoted on literature, 
116, 117. 

Theological institutions, 97-8; educa- 
tion should be cooperative, 191 -2. 

Thompson, C. L., chairman Commis- 
sion VIII, 187; mapping territory, 
188; emphasis in message, 190-1; 
on Catholic cooperation, 198-9; 
Havana conference, 238. 

Thomson, J., "City of Dreadful 
Night," 213-4. 

Thomson, J., Lancasterian schools, 
91-2. 

Timeliness of Panama Congress, 5-6. 

Toro, see Del Toro. 

"Tourist Guide, Missions and Eng- 
lish Services, Latin America," 
173, 188. 

Tracts still useful in Latin America, 
120-t. 

Training of National leaders. 163; 
"Training and Efficiency of Mis- 
sionaries, 183-6. 

Trevifio, A., on translation work, 117. 



Tucker, H. C, Portuguese inter- 

freter of Congress, 19; plea for 
ndians, 48; value of Bible trans- 
lation work, 113. 

U 

Union churches in Latin America, 
r 73« 

United Free Church may work in 
8. America, 232. 

United States Government's cour- 
tesies, 20. 

United Study of Missions, Central 
Committee, 176. 

Universities in Latin America, 33; 
Government's, 86-8; union Chris- 
tian university demanded, 192. 

Uruguayana School, 95. 



Valera, C. de, version of Bible, 112. 
Vance, J. I., cooperation and human 

nature, 203; "The Vital Power of 

Christianity." 225. 
Vargas, D. de, quoted, 112. 

W 

Waldensians in Uruguay, 231. 

War, see European war. 

Watts, Miss M., a pioneer, 129. 

Winter, N. O., quoted, 124. 

Woman's work in Latin America: 
full discussion in ch. VI, pp. 123- 
37; its constituency, described, 
124-7; sketch of early work and 
workers, 127-9; educational work 
for them, 129-32; social work, 
132-3; work in the home, 133-5; 
literature needed, 135-6; Christ 
needed, 136-7; cooperative educa- 
tion, 193. 



Yanes, F., quoted, Conquistadores, 
30; characterizes Latin Americans, 
3i. 

Young Men's Christian Association: 
object-lesson of, 6; work for stu- 
dents, 72-3; work for intellectuals, 
164; and Latin -American students 
in N. America, 174. 

Young people's societies, 146-7- 

Young Women's Christian Associa- 
tion, social work, 133. 

Yucatan, protracted meetings in, 148. 



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